My friend Alana is everything you could want in a travel partner, and in a human being. She is calm, cultured, and has an extraordinary ability to see everyone’s inner Buddha – and she couldn’t have come to Turkey at a better time. Weeks of traveling through new culture and old history had left me tired and overwhelmed. In Kaş, I hadn’t even been able to leave my host’s porch.I sat there for two days, looking out on the world, but taking no part in it. Within an hour’s drive were some of Turkey’s most famous sites: the tombs of the Lycian way, the sunken city of Kekova, and the 12-kilometer stretch of sandy heaven, Patara Beach. I didn’t feel excited about any of them. I only felt excited about Alana. After what seemed like endless
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