Marmaris to Egirdir, Isparta and Guneykent
We left Marmaris early July 4th intending to spend the night in Isparta. Our route took us quickly into the countryside and up into the mountains.
We actually missed the turn-off to Burdur because it was just a dirt entrance you can see on the right side of the highway before the tunnel. We’ve actually been north to Denizli Pamukkale and Izmir so knew that was the wrong way. We quickly saw what had happened and got back on the road in the right direction. We were heading north east towards Isparta but Burdur was on the way and we actually thought of stopping there at about 3 pm rather than continue on.
Big cows!
Beside many petrol stations there are quite good restaurants. We ate soup, some type of sausage, rice, salad, bread, tea, beer and water. The bill was 17 TL about $11 and it was good and filling and held us until our late dinner in Egirdir. Half the time the bread and the salad are just free. We had just pointed to what we wanted and I know the Turkish words for soup and tomatoes and bread.
You see plants and flowers in absolutely every home and most businesses. A sheep pen was between the restaurant and the building with the WC. I practically tripped over a huge sheepdog chained to the pen but he ignored me. After the “bad dogs” in Kalkan and the warning in the Lonely Planet I am a bit leery of big Turkish dogs though only three of the hundreds we’ve seen have been bad. I did see some chase cars early in the morning outside our hotel in Seydisehir but they were gone when we got on our bike.
We passed Lake Burdur marveling that its shores seemed undeveloped and unspoiled.
We biked past lots of countryside that looked like this.
We arrived in Isparta at the worst of times; about 4:45 pm during the rushing around part of the day when the streets were crowded and traffic heavy in the center city. With a population of 180,000 it’s not a tiny place. And it seemed as if the one way streets were all running the opposite way we needed them to be running. While planning our trip, my internet searches hadn’t turned up any obvious hotel or pension choices and Lonely Planet listed no sleeping options on the Isparta page. The few hotels we peaked at didn’t appeal to us. (We have since learned there were good choices, but we just didn’t know where to look.) Lonely Planet did offer choices for Egirdir which wasn’t so far away so off we went. We arrived after 7 pm tired and hungry so didn’t take the time to unearth Lonely Planet, but just took the first reasonable hotel we found and it was totally acceptable with wifi, hot water, ac, and breakfast with a beautiful view.
After dumping off our gear we went out for dinner and forgot our rule of splitting a meal because you get so much food. You order, say, eggplant kabobs and grilled chicken and you get salad and bread and meze and before you know it there’s a ton of food on the table that you can’t possible eat. Four people would have had plenty!
You are invited into restaurants like long lost friend so how can you refuse? We sat just about behind the tree at the far restaurant. I ordered eggplant kabobs a salad and bread and Randal ordered a grilled chicken something. Way too much food!
You can see an empty salad plate in the middle and some red pepper relish/salsa and a basket of bread out of site. The bread in front of me came with my eggplant to keep it hot!
Under the bread the actual kabob dish was covered with plastic to keep in the heat.
Grilled eggplant and grilled spicy lamb kabobs and grilled tomato. I ate about half and that was more than I should have but I hated to make them think I didn’t like it. I now know the Turkish word for FULL. DOLU.
Rooftop dining over Lake Egirdir at the Apostel Hotel.
We moved from our mainland Apostel Otel to Ali’s Pension on Yesilda at the end of the causeway connecting the small island to the mainland.
We got up early the morning after our arrival and walked the 1.5 km to Yesilda finding Ali’s Pension and asking for a room. Luckily for us they were having a slow week between two fully booked weeks.
The causeway towards Yesilda.
Looking back along the causeway to Mt Davraz.
Our room was the top floor; the windows on the left. We could sit out on the balcony and look out on the lake. Ali’s has a great website with lots of information about Egirdir. It answered our question about the large wood “falling down” houses we saw on Yesilda and around town.
GREEK HOMES
“Yesilada has very strong Greek origins and ancestry. In years long past it boasted a very large Greek community .During the war, in 1922, the men returned to Greece and until 1924 only women remained on the island. However, the women also returned to Greece at the conclusion of the war. Many of the homes they built, recognizable as the old large brown wooden buildings, can still be found scattered throughout the middle of the island. Quite surprisingly, although they look to be crumbling to the ground, some are still occupied today.” Ali’s Pension website
Ali’s patio where we were served breakfast.
Ali’s famous “cigara borek” are the deep friend dough filled with cheese.
“Yesilada’s best breakfasts regularly break the mould of the same old bread, cheese and cucumber combo, and we challenge you to find fresher and tastier cigara borek (deep fried savoury pastries) anywhere in Turkey.” Lonely Planet
http://www.alispension.com/ The website of our pension in Egirdir. It tells a great deal about the history, geography, and culture of the area.
Next email will be photos of Egirdir and our ride up Mt. Davraz