July 4th & 5th Bergama to Kavakoy

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4^th

Shopping – back to the jewelry / carpet shop – turns out they were second hand shops, or as I would say, junk shops! Ha! But I have the feeling that this may come back to bite me....



Then down the road to the clothes shop – 1 T'shirt & a tunic top, 32TL or £8, bargain (for Cathy, not me)

Back home & I washed Billy without a hose pipe (first time in over 4 months) & whilst Cathy slept.... then a swim as it was very hot, c.35* but also very windy still. Donned my pinny, made dinner & an early night







5^th

Checked out – the receptionist at the hotel said that Bergama was the windy 'city' of Turkey, so now we know.



When we scaled Pergamon the other day, the Government official asked us to visit the carpet centre on our way north – it's a co–operative, helps the local people & the economy of course; he gave us a leaflet – I started to get nervous – it's free to visit, watch the weavers etc...I'm doomed before we go....



So we arrive, it's closed, hooray...a chap runs out..it's open....oh b**** ...deffo doomed! We were shown the art of weaving, the silk cocoons etc, the lady at the tressle;”this little weave is pure silk, took 18 months to make in central Turkey & costs a gazillion Euros – perfect for a wall hanging...” It was beautiful & a great asset..but amazingly expensive!



Into the carpet / rug centre – well, John Lewis would be embarrassed by the quantity & quality of these rugs, just staggering in lots of rooms. The lady told us that it is a government co-operative, ladies from 118 villages across Turkey make the rugs. Each one they sell, they give the weaver 60% less materials & at the end of the year they give them a bonus on sales...this tied up with what the Government chappie said at Pergamon which gave us confidence they weren't Chinese imports. We were offered tea (apple tea is grand) as we / Cathy looked around...



'We' were going to buy a wool on cotton rug for c.1000 Euros ( c. £700) which was lovely, but Cathy had seen & had been shown a mercantile cotton (second only to silk) rug which was absolutely beautiful but way out of my / our price range at 5500 Euros – the nice sales lady kept bringing it back into the pitch...down to 5000, down to 4000, down to rock bottom at 3500.



To cut a long haggling story short, she had to get the Director down who eventually agreed to my absolute top offer of 3000 Euros (3000 Euros!!! I could buy a house for that!) Mind you, it is beautiful...& I agree! The Director gave Cathy a present of a hand made silk scarf with tassles (not a rose this time) The Director & I had a laugh & a joke or two via the interpretor sales lady.



I was paying for the rug ..& Cathy disappeared into another room – oh dear, this is dangerous thought I.. “Daviiid, come & look at this one, it's beautiful..”

Another long story short, a fantastic rug for the lounge to replace our 25 year old rug (hardly worn...) wool on cotton, ticket price 8000 Euros (!) down it came. From the director...to 4500 if we swapped (the sales lady was a little surprised at the speed / discount) & if we bought both I asked...4000.



Deal done, both parties happy. We took the smaller rug & they will ship the large one 50% payment on delivery. Oh, I asked what present I could have if Cathy had been given a silk scarf – I got 3 wooden cats worthy of Japanese kitsch – he had a great sense of humour. When we left, I said to him, via the sales lady interpretor, that I hoped we never met again; we hugged & laughed...



...& off, a long drive again of 300k, c.180 miles & a ferry in the journey too. The slow coast road climbing up above the sea, avoiding the kamikasi drivers once again, stopping for lunch at the same place we stopped on the way down coincidentally. The countryside was full of arable fields including sunflowers...pretty. On the way down in May, the Dyson took us to cross the Dardinelles at Cannekale..but this time for some reason it took us through Cannekale to catch a ferry at Lapseki to Gellibolu (Gallipoli)...which is a shame as we missed the war memorial I mentioned before. I suspect & hope there'll be more on the trip north.



So, to Sarros, the agricultural field of a camp site we'd stayed at before..except this time it was rammed & the green grass was now brown savanna – bearing in mind it was a Sunday (Turkey's fun & family day) Still, it wasn't noisy & we met two couples on motorbikes behind us. One couple (Reika & Stephan in their 50s) from Germany on 1000 BMW & a 650 Husqvarna & the other couple (Lee & Paul in their 60s) from Oz, (born Newfies) on ?990 KTMs who were going round the world. They'd been through Iraq & Iran, the Stans & met nothing but kindness & hospitality, especially in Ramadan...still, pretty brave I'd say, but then they have an AUS plate... This was the first time ever that I had seen & heard two women talking motorbikes, accessories, tents, tyres, gel seats. Pretty hardy lasses I'd say with hips to match – they need them.



Anyway, having chatted & made dinner a storm came from nowhere - it absolutely threw it down tropical style again...just had time to throw the chairs in, stick some stuff under Billy, leave the rest & jump inside soaked & write this! It was still raining when we went to bed...

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