Bus, bus, bus travel all day Goreme to [b]Lake Egirdir[/b]

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Thursday 22nd September - long day travel Goreme to Egirdir

An early start today as we had a long, long way to travel. We did not have time for breakfast at the hotel as last night we purchased tickets for the 8.30 bus to Konya. We had bit our farewell to our host Cemil last night also as we left the hotel before he had arrived for work.

The bus station in Goreme is just in the center car park where there are a few outdoor benches and a row of ticket offices for the different bus companies. I went and bought some bread and we had a makeshift breakfast on a bench with butter and jam we had collected from previous breakfasts. The local dog population decided we were interesting enough to sit and watch and enjoyed the bread we had left over that we gave to them.

Most of the buses to anywhere out of Cappadocia are night buses but even though we had a long way to go today I did not want to travel overnight. Lucky for us one company had this early morning bus to Konya which cost us 25try = $14.00 each. They told us it would take about 4 hours but this turned into 5 hours which seemed normal and in future I would just add one hour to the times we were told.


The bus pulled in just minutes before 8.30am and we loaded our luggage and climbed the back stairs onto the bus. As soon as I was in the cabin of the bus I knew this had obviously been a night bus from somewhere as the air was pungent with the stench of bad breath and stale farts. We found our seats and sprayed the immediate area with our lemon water to freshen it up a bit.

There was not much to see on the way and I think both Zak and I dozed in and out for most of the trip. Finally we made it to Konya, which is a huge city and I had thought about stopping here to see the museum, but the weather looked crap and the bus station was miles from the center so we straight away inquired about a bus to Lake Egirdir. The next bus was just an hour away so we purchased tickets 30try = $16.80 each and went looking for something to have for lunch as it was that time already.

We found a super market sort shop at the otogar that was selling toasted sandwiches filled with sausage, cheese and tomato. I saw someone eating one and they looked ok so that is what we ordered also. The hour went by quickly as we ate and then just had time to go to the loo before boarding the next bus.

Again the 4 hour bus journey was actually closer to 5 and as we got closer to our destination the weather was turning to crap. Cappadocia had given us clear sunny skies the days we were there, but now the sky was were turning black and spots of rain started to appear on the bus windows. The last 1 1/2 of the drive became quite scenic as we entered the lake district. Nearing the town of Egirdir, which sits on the shores of Lake Egirdir, the road hugged the lake bank, which on a clear day would have been a beautiful sight.

When we pulled into the otogar where we had to get out the sky opened up and it started raining. Not pouring rain, but wet annoying rain. Nevertheless, we had to get out and find some accomodation. No idea where to go or which direction we tried to find the tourist information office. I miss the accomodation touts waiting to prey on tourists getting off the buses. Last trip to Turkey these touts proved quite useful, but they seemed to have disappeared. Fortunately, by chance a hostel owner found us wandering the street and took us to his place. Ibrahim was the owner of Lale Hostel which is where I wanted to go, but he took us to another one of his places, Charlies Hostel which was good also. We had a splurge on a nice double room with huge en-suite bathroom for 50try = $28.00 per night without breakfast. This seemed a bit expensive at the time, but it was now late and almost dark and the room was so nice and it was raining outside. So many reasons just to take the room and enjoy it - which we did.

Ibrahim gave us hot tea to drink and we were happy. And there was free WiFi, also a bonus. As we were too late to pre-order dinner at the hostel, we walked into town to find somewhere to eat. Of course being on a lake, fish was the specialty and the fish was trout. We came across a restaurant that had a lot of Turks eating there and the prices seemed right so we took a seat. Lentil soup to start and then we shared a very yummy trout. Dinner costs us 16try = $9.00 for both including soup, fish and drinks. The weather had cleared considerably and although it was a little cold the rain had stopped and we ate dinner at the tables set up outside.

After dinner Zak wanted to go and have a beard trim and a clean up shave so he selected one of the numerous barber shops still open and tried to explain what he wanted. The are lots of barber shops in Turkey we noticed, which makes me believe that not many local men shave at home. Actually, when I think of it there are lots of barber shops in Morocco also, again mainly giving shaves. The young guy working in the barber was busy giving an older man a full face shave with a cut throat razor and we had to wait a few minutes for Zak to have his turn. I'd like to point out that the young bloke doing the shaving was not even old enough to shave himself, obvious by his baby face soft cheeks, yet he seemed very confident and efficient with the cut throat. I had to laugh when Zak was trying to explain to the barber exactly what he wanted as they shared no language except sign language. Zak bleated instructions in English and Arabic and the young guy answered something back in Turkish. Both not understanding each other, but still understanding what was wanted.
During the whole 25 minutes it took to get the hair removal that Zak wanted both men prattled on to each other in their own foreign language. Zak in Arabic and the barber in Turkish, to me they both sounded the same as I understood zero of both languages. Eventually, Zak was satisfied with the end result and I paid the barber the 4 try = $2.24 he quoted us (price listed on the wall) and I tipped him 1 try = .56c for having to put up with such a fussy customer.

It was pretty cold by now and we walked back to the hostel and into our nice warm room and crashed, it had been a long full day. As I mentioned before, even sitting in buses doing nothing all day for extended hours is very tiring.





Friday 23rd September - a day by the lake

We woke up or rather were woken up just before 9am. Ibrahim had warned us that we were staying in an old wooden house and every move that anyone made would be heard everywhere throughout the house. And the fact that our room was right next to the breakfast buffet and common room area, but it was ok, we'd had a good sleep.

Zak poked his head out the door and within minutes returned to me to advise we would be having breakfast here at the hostel. It costs an extra 10 try = $5.60 each but it was worth it. A buffet with a decent range of assorted breakfast goodies. Cereal with milk was the winner, as well as the usual Turkish fare of cheese, olives and cold meat. Also included was boiled eggs or an omelet and self service tea and drip coffee - which won me over. To top it all off they had a toaster and I was able to have toast for the first time in months. Toast is non existent in Morocco - mostly due to the type of bread they have - so I was in heaven, pity I forgot the Vegemite. :-(

The weather had only improved a little since yesterday. The sky was still filled with grey clouds and there was a chill in the air, but at least it was not raining.

We decided to go for a walk and have a look around the town. We headed out along the causeway to what used to be an island. This small mass of land was littered with hotels and guesthouses, cafes and restaurants. All of which were deserted and closed. In the summer this place must be buzzing, but this time of year and with the weather not being ideal to stay in a place surrounded by water it was dead and devoid of tourists. Still we walked around and enjoyed the still waters of the lake and the beautiful surrounding views.

It did not take long to do a lap of the island and on the way back along the stoney beach we came across an Australian couple from Mt Glorious near Brisbane which we had met at the hostel this morning after breakfast. We sat talking with them for awhile, as they had just come from Bulgaria and I was very interested in hearing about their travels, as this may be a destination I am adding to my itinerary next year. We sat in the pleasant sunshine chatting for about an hour until Zak got bored with trying to keep up with our Australian accents and speed talking and suggested we continue on.

The town did not have much in the way of shops, and we were in the market for a pair of board shorts for Zak in case we wanted to go swimming in the freezing lake. Not likely, more for our next stop along the coast. In the summer time it would be lovely to swim here, but this time of year and on a day like today you would have to be from Alaska to appreciate the low water temperature of the lake. Of course some shops here did sell boardies for the warmer times and we found a pair to fit him for bargain price of 10 try = $5.60.

We continued to walk around, but like I said there was not much to see. Main reasons for visiting Egirdir would be to go out on the lake. In nice weather, fishing and boat trips crowd the expansive waters of the lake. And this is also a popular place to go hiking, but it seems that when a mountain guide is on holidays the last thing he wants to do is hike. I would have thought the opposite and was prepared to spend the day climbing some mountain trail, but no he was not interested. That was also ok with me, I was still happy with my flat country hike in the Rose Valley. We did however climb up to a lookout that gave us a great birds eye view of the town and isthmus.

Lake Egirdir was a place that I wanted to visit on my last trip to Turkey but we did pass by this way. So I was happy that I had come this time, it really was a pleasant spot and I can imagine in better weather how much more beautiful it would be. (Lyn and Cobi it was lovely just like I said it would be!!)

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and hanging out at the hostel. We had made a date with the Australian couple to have dinner with them in town after we had told them about last nights trout dinner. We returned to the same restaurant and the waiter was happy to see us again and his smile increased when he saw that we had brought two extra customers with us. We again had the trout, with first an entree of lentil soup. Our friends had the same and we all enjoyed a lovely tasty meal which costs for both 13try = $7.30 for soup and trout.

On the way to dinner we stopped at the otogar and purchased tickets to move on again tomorrow. The weather did not look like it was going to improve here in the days to come and after such beautiful sunny weather in Cappadocia we wanted to head to the coast to see if we could catch some more rays. And Zak's boardies needed to be baptized!

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Photos

on the bus
TV screen and coffee on the bus

causeway that leads to island
Mt Davras 2635m