Egirdir, Turkey

25.04.2012 - 27.04.2012

We are now on tiny Yeslada Island, which is on a large lake connected to Egirdir via a narrow causeway. Off the beaten track in south-central Turkey, this place sees it's share of vacationing Turks in the summer, but not now. It is very much spring, with all the trees leafing out, birds chirping, and ducks humping. They are strange looking, long billed ducks who dive under the water for extended periods of time and reappear 50 yards away, like loons. Our charming guesthouse has a direct view of the lake, which is surrounded by imposing snow capped mountains, and seems to change colors depending on the time of day, position of the sun, etc. It is by turns, blue, turquoise, and grey.

One afternoon we rented an ancient row-boat, and paddled around with oars that must have weighed 20 pounds a piece. It was a good idea until the wind picked up, white caps appeared, and we had to struggle to get back to the dock. Luckily, we didn't have that far to go.

We also happened to be in Egidir on market day, and as in Selcuk, we had more than our fill of of feta, olives, tomatoes, strawberries, and oranges.

Unlike Morocco, many people here seem happy to have their picture taken. I asked two older gentlemen at the market if I could take theirs and they nodded. When I showed them afterwords, they each touched their hearts, as if to say thank you.

By in large, the Turkish people have been very generous and warm hearted. They seem to go out of their way to make contact, and to watch out for you, if you are obviously a foreigner. They are right up there with my all time favorites, the Laotians and the Burmese.