Mountain Magic

The plan was to go to Isparta to see the roses and to tour the factories, but it turns out that the town itself isn't terribly pretty and is not a good place to stay. The guide book is pretty explicit in steering you towards the nearby town of Egirdir but I missed that part of the book when I was writing previously. So, once I reached Isparta I caught another on to the next town.

Egirdir is a pretty cute little town on the southern end of a huge lake of the same name. The focal point of the village is a small island that's been connected to the land by 1.5 km of stone, dirt, and road. The place is very scenic and is a huge domestic tourism hotspot, though not this early in the season. When I got there, it was late in the day and rain was starting to fall as I walked towards the hostels in shorts and a tshirt. Thankfully the one that I found happened to be the best one in town and I was able to check in right away. Also, the huge dorm that I was in had only one other person in it, a German named Wolfgang, but there was a single toilet/shower combo despite having 30 beds. I'm glad that I was there in the low season.

Wolfgang and I went out for dinner. I hadn't eaten all day and this was his first good meal in 2 weeks since the poor weather had forced him into town and out of the mountains where he had been trekking. He's got a book called the St Pauls Trail that details a route mapped out by a British woman 6 years ago and supposedly follows some ancient road. It's a tough trek through some very rugged mountains, and you really need a GPS to find the way points since the spraypainted trail markers are getting pretty worn out and a lot of logging has gone on since the publication. We found a fantastic place for dinner after walking for 30 minutes and going to the busiest place we saw.

The next morning Wolfgang invited me to breakfast since I was too cheap to pay the $4 to eat it with him and while there we met a couple other trekkers that had been forced off of the trail by the rain. Their names are Joe and Griet and they've done stuff like this trail all over the world together. Actually, they met while trekking in Tasmania. We all agreed to rent some bicycles and go for a little ride. I had a cache of tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and a melon, and the others in the group had bread, cheese, spices, and apples so all we needed were bikes.

We found a bike shop after some searching and set off to ride out to the tip of the island and back. Then we headed out to a town up north along side the lake, 35 km away. It took a few hours to get there because we stopped a bunch of times to photograph flowers, pick cherries, and to wait for me to catch up. Eventually we reached the town and had lunch.

The ride home was tiring too, we circled back on the same route but there were hills and the bike was a little small for me. We stopped for a while at a rose garden alongside the lake and they had the most fragrant roses that I've ever smelled. While we were there a picnicking family nearby brought us a plate of food and a tray of cold drinks. They didn't speak any English, but wow, what unexpected hospitality.

The weather was pretty cool towards the end of the ride... actually it was cool all day, and a big storm was predicted to show up the next day. Joe and Griet were headed back towards Olympos so I decided to go on with them the next morning since they had already spent a lot of time there and knew a great hostel. Later that night we went out to dinner again at the same restaurant and played cards until the wee hours.

The next day there was a big market in town and we all bought more food. I found some Anamur bananas that were truly great and I bought half a kilo of cheese to go with a loaf of heavy brown bread, a rare treat around here. After that we go on with our 4 separate bus rides to get down to Olympos.

We got there around sunset and I checked into a dorm room. I got room 81, which is an auspicious number in Turkey because in Turkish the number is pronounced sek-sen-beer. Think about it. The tree houses turned out to be a bit of a misnomer... they're small huts on stilts that were once trees before they were cut into planks. Besides that silliness, the hostel in beutiful. It's basicly an orange grove, with picnic tables, hammocks, shaded gazebos with pillows and low tables, a fire pit, and a bar. Further back from that hangout area are long rowas of stilted huts that look fairly rustic but inside are clean and air conditioned for a warmer season. You don't really notice how bloody big the place is because it's in such a thick orange grove. It costs $17 a day and that includes a huge dinner and breakfast. Also, there is free wifi, power outlets everywhere, and great music. Also, we're one of the closest hostels to the beach.

Olympos is a tiny village really, built in a forested canyon near the pebbly beach. There are about 30 different hostels of different sorts all along side the single road through the canyon. Most of them include dinner so it's just a matter of finding a good crowd and the one that I'm at is full of 20 and 30 somethings. ostly it's backpackers but there are a few Russian beach holiday people too. Anyways, the place is as good as I could imagine, though the beer could be cheaper. It's $3.50 at the hostel and about $2 at one of the nearby pubs though there is no BYO at the hostel.

Anyways, that night I enjoyed a great huge dinner and hung out with the two people that I came with while I finished up the previous blog post. It was a chilled out evening overall. The next morning though, I didn't have too many plans other than to meet some new people. I did just that at breakfast and in the middle of the day I went out to the beach with a couple of them. Between the village and the beach are a bevy of old Roman ruins, and a gate blocks access so you have to buy a weekly pass through the ruins just to reach the beach.

We got to check out a variety of old tombs, baths, and other buildings all overgrown with bay trees, manzanita, vines, and brush. I really like overgrown ruins and they really made the experience unique. We also climbed up to a tiny stone fort overlooking the beach and cut up the melon that I had from the other day. Today I didn't go swimming because it was a little cool, but maybe tomorrow I will get around to it. I think that I'll spend a whole week here since it's so cheap and nice. It's been a long time since I was in a place with a lot of backpackers. It's good to be home.