Catching a long distance bus is a great way to see the interior of Turkey. They're comfortable, cool and cheap. Our whole trip for the two of us there and back cost less than a single train ticket from Exeter to Bristol.
On the way to Pamukkale (see blogpost just before this one) we drove up the fertile Meander river valley past peach orchards, market gardens, fields of wheat and maize. Now we're climbing 900 metres out of the valley floor into the mountains towards the Lake District. The first lake we reach is Aci Gol, Turkish for bitter lake. It's a brackish marsh edged with salt flats shimmering in the sun. This doesn't look promising. But when we come over the pass and wind our way down to Egirdir beside its eponymous lake, we smile with relief.
The view is amaaazing. The air is clear and the lake sparkles in the sun against the backdrop of mountains. The small town of Egirdir lies in the shadow of Needle Mountain on a peninsular fortified by an old castle. A narrow causeway links the peninsular to Yesilada island to form a two kilometre long promontory that juts right out into the lake.
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| Trees are growing in the breakwater of the fishing harbour! |
We've booked to stay at Charly's Pension which you reach by going through the gateway of this ruined castle on the peninsular. It turns out to be a great choice. It's an old Greek house beside the lake with loads of character and five fairly basic bedrooms.
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| Charly's Pension |
The pension terrace has this magnificent view overlooking the lake with steps down to a small pebble beach.
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| Wow! The view from the terrace |
Our bedroom has old oak panelling and a little balcony with this same view. Another stroke of good luck is the pension is sheltered from the breeze that got up every afternoon we were there.
The lake is 488 square kilometres in size. Crayfish, perch and carp are plentiful. Anywhere else it would be teeming with pleasure boats and its shores would be lined with watersports centres, apartments and hotels. Although it's conveniently placed half way between Cappadocia and Pamukkale, few tourists stop here and it's remarkably unspoiled.
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| Ripe for development? |
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| A fishing boat is all there is to take these newlyweds out on the lake |
We take dips in the lake, stroll round the island and generally enjoy the laidback atmostphere and comfortable temperatures. It's a pleasant surprise to find that we need a duvet at night. One day we exert ourselves to go for a walk round a nearby national park with fellow guest Neesh, a Sri Lankan born civil engineer from Australia.
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| Neesh and Cathy lead the way through the woods |
We sample the freshwater perch and on our last night, we make short work of a huge plate of crayfish.
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| Before..... |
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| .......and after |
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| The sun sets on another glorious day |
We wanted to go up to Sagalossos, an impressive Psidian site in the mountains 75km away, but we didn't make it as there was no-one willing to share the trip cost with us. Never mind. When finally it's time to board the bus for the seven hour trip back to the boat in Kusadasi, we're sorry to leave but console ourselves with the thought that we'll be back one day.
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| Reluctant to drag ourselves away |
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