Day 28. Bodrum - Isparta Turkey
Drama free day today, unless you count my left front indicator stopped working. Oh and got pulled over twice by the local constabulary but no drama to report here.
Anyway Bodrum is a lovely little place with some very nice and exclusive looking shops. I guess to cater from the owners of the hundreds of yachts moored nearby.
We didn’t even window shop.
So we hit the road about 8:30 after breakfast and it turned out to be a quite delightful day.
The first section followed the coast for a bit which is very beautiful and is obviously a part their "riviera" with heaps of resort style buildings and tour buses parked all along the roadside.
Then we headed for the hills and it was a bit cooler about 23 which was welcome. Up and over hills dotted with marble mines and through lush valleys with crops aplenty.
Tomtom offered an alternative to the main route so we took it, a pleasant change in single lane roads albeit a bit bumpy in places.
Decided to stop for a stretch and went up a side road towards a village we could see ahead. Road got narrower and eventually we just stopped for a stretch. In the distance we could see all the women in their headscarves mingling around and across the road were several groups of 4 men sitting at tables playing with numbered tiles. After we had removed our helmets and they decided we weren’t aliens from outer space they beckoned to us to join them. Got us chairs and brought Chai which is just black tea with a couple of sugar cubes. A lively discussion took place, they figured out where NZ was all the while continuing to play this game with great enthusiasm. So we thanked them and offered to pay which was politely refused. A simple thing but a little joy in our day.
We have covered in excess of 400km today, it is good be moving again but the butts need hardening.
We are in Isparta which doesn’t have anything to offer tourists, hence there are none. We went for a nice walk, it is a very busy place and we got stared at a bit. There is a large defense installation here and the jet fighters obviously think it’s a cool place to fly over. I suppose it’s Turkeys equivalent of Palmy.
Found a little place for tea, main course each, two bottles of water, 1 yoghurt drink, some sort of dessert, 2 cups of Chai - 35 TRY or 9 bucks. Under food budget today yay.
Anyway Bodrum is a lovely little place with some very nice and exclusive looking shops. I guess to cater from the owners of the hundreds of yachts moored nearby.
We didn’t even window shop.
So we hit the road about 8:30 after breakfast and it turned out to be a quite delightful day.
The first section followed the coast for a bit which is very beautiful and is obviously a part their "riviera" with heaps of resort style buildings and tour buses parked all along the roadside.
Then we headed for the hills and it was a bit cooler about 23 which was welcome. Up and over hills dotted with marble mines and through lush valleys with crops aplenty.
Tomtom offered an alternative to the main route so we took it, a pleasant change in single lane roads albeit a bit bumpy in places.
Decided to stop for a stretch and went up a side road towards a village we could see ahead. Road got narrower and eventually we just stopped for a stretch. In the distance we could see all the women in their headscarves mingling around and across the road were several groups of 4 men sitting at tables playing with numbered tiles. After we had removed our helmets and they decided we weren’t aliens from outer space they beckoned to us to join them. Got us chairs and brought Chai which is just black tea with a couple of sugar cubes. A lively discussion took place, they figured out where NZ was all the while continuing to play this game with great enthusiasm. So we thanked them and offered to pay which was politely refused. A simple thing but a little joy in our day.
We have covered in excess of 400km today, it is good be moving again but the butts need hardening.
We are in Isparta which doesn’t have anything to offer tourists, hence there are none. We went for a nice walk, it is a very busy place and we got stared at a bit. There is a large defense installation here and the jet fighters obviously think it’s a cool place to fly over. I suppose it’s Turkeys equivalent of Palmy.
Found a little place for tea, main course each, two bottles of water, 1 yoghurt drink, some sort of dessert, 2 cups of Chai - 35 TRY or 9 bucks. Under food budget today yay.
Glad to hear you were welcomed so well...sounds as we remember, men sitting together. Look forward to hearing more of your Turkey adventures
ReplyDelete"But the butts need hardening". Sounds like they are doing pretty well? I was trying to remember what may be the longest one day spell with a pillion I can recall here in Godzone, perhaps around 900 km, how-ever never with the sort of load of gear that you two are squeezed in amongst.
ReplyDeleteSuspension has been tweaked- the bike’s not ours, boy what a difference 😀
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