Reminiscence from Anatolia- Part Twelve: Egirdir, a tranquil town by the lake
I checked into Artemis Yoruk Hotel… paid 15 Turkish Lira for a beautiful room… Pamukkale doesn’t get too many overnight tourists and therefore the local hotels tend to offer very good value for money for overnight tourists. I met the two Japanese girls over the dinner there… they were staying in the same hotel… we had our dinner together… they told me that they are off to Istanbul the very next day… and wished me for the rest of my journey.
After the dinner, I checked my mails on the internet… and found my wife online… she gave me the good news that my elder brother has been blessed with a baby girl… it was a great news… the day next was my younger son’s birthday.
I also checked the website of Turkish Zaman, which is the largest selling English newspaper in Turkey… it had the bad news of Kurdish riots spreading all over the South-East Turkey… Diyarbakir, Van, and Sanliurfa… places I was headed to. I had goose-pimples… I wondered if I should change my trajectory and head towards Mediterranean… but then decided that I would go till Cappadocia and decide there- if I should proceed further in the East of turn towards Ankara and safer places.
I searched my wallet, my Turkish liras were dwindling… and I needed more of them… I asked the hotel owner if he can exchange some for me… he offered me a rate of 1.45 and told me that dollar is falling… I exchanged 100 dollars for 145 Liras. The next few days I saw the topsy-turvy ride of dollar versus Lira.
It was time to take a hot shower and go to sleep… I was going to start my day early in the morning… catching the municipal bus from Pamukkale to Denizili at 7 am… days were getting shorter.
The next day, I woke up… gave a call to India… where my younger son was having his second birthday. I haven’t been able to be with him a lot… I was in Egypt when he was born in India… and then after a few months of stay with him in India… I stood transferred to Afghanistan… but from what my wife tells me- he is very fond of me- God bless him.
The municipal bus charges 1 Turkish Lira for the ride to Denizili… it drops you to the main Denizili Otogar (Bus stand)… and infront of the Otogar… one can find a number of Dolmus waiting for passengers to various destinations. It is a bit difficult to find Dolmus to Isparta… I took about half an hour to find it…
Isparta is a small town; famed for its University… it is often dubbed as the city of students… in my Dolmus, for instance, everyone –except me- was a student. I was told that some 15-20 kilometers from Isparta, there are few good Greco-Roman ruins… At Isparta, it was even more difficult to find a Dolmus to Egirdir… nobody knew about it… I was in a fix… but then I eventually found it…
The journey from Denizili to Isparta was uneventful… and so was large part of my journey from Isparta to Egirdir… but then when I was about to doze… I saw Egirdir for the first time… and was mesmerized by its beauty.
Egirdir is located in a bowl shaped valley … the road to Egirdir goes uphill… from where one can get fabulous panoramic views of the lake city… and then descends sharply.
Egirdir is located by a tranquil lake… surrounded by hills… very little population… clean and peaceful city… miles and miles of walkways alongside the lake… it has to be a magical place.
Luckily enough it is not yet on the tourist map of Turkey… not many know about it and therefore its one of the few off beat tourist spots. When I got down at Egirdir… I made up my mind that if I do not get a bus/dolmus to Konya in half an hour, I am going to stay here… I even checked out a cheap pension for myself… Lale Pension. I was told that one can go for hiking, fishing, boat rides, rock-climbing… everything in Egirdir at very little costs… the person at Lale Pension told me that if I choose to stay back… I would be most delighted… and might spend my entire vacation over here… he said that Egirdir is a family vacation spot.
I don’t know whether I was lucky or not… I found a bus to Konya within a few minutes… it was one of the buses from Denizili… from which a few passengers had alighted at Egirdir… generating a few seats… I bid adieu to this most beautiful city and promised that I would be back- with my family.
I reached Konya at around 6 pm… 2 hours before the 1 pm would have allowed me to reach Konya… I saved two hours and saw a very beautiful town of Egirdir, which would be forever etched in my heart for its enchanting beauty.
Konya is one of the three towns in Turkey that has tramway… I alighted at Konya Otogar, and took a Tram to Aladdin Tepesi (literally Aladdin Hills), the closest tram-station to the Maulana Rumi’s mausoleum… and checked into Hotel Ulusan.
Konya is often said to be the third largest city of Turkey… after Istanbul and Ankara… it is bustling, with big markets but very few foreign tourists… at Konya Otogar, I had a trouble finding an English speaking person… I tried Arabic, but met a tout… who tried to dissuade me from using Tram and instead offered me a taxi drive to Hotel Ulusan… then, finally, at the tramway station I met a girl who could speak a few words of English… she guided me to Aladdin Tepesi.
Konya Tramways doesn’t sell single ticket… it sells either two ride ticket or a five rides ticket… from anywhere to anywhere… it’s fast, timely and efficient… I wondered why don’t Indian cities have tramways… why tramways in most of the Indian cities ended in 1960s, when due to advent of cheap automobiles there was a anti-tram wave throughout the world… some experts feel that automobile industries sponsored papers after papers against the viability of trams… ending this very beautiful way of public transport.
After checking at Ulusan, it was time to have a quick dinner and then go to sleep… the next day I had to visit Konya city and push towards Cappadocia.
After the dinner, I checked my mails on the internet… and found my wife online… she gave me the good news that my elder brother has been blessed with a baby girl… it was a great news… the day next was my younger son’s birthday.
I also checked the website of Turkish Zaman, which is the largest selling English newspaper in Turkey… it had the bad news of Kurdish riots spreading all over the South-East Turkey… Diyarbakir, Van, and Sanliurfa… places I was headed to. I had goose-pimples… I wondered if I should change my trajectory and head towards Mediterranean… but then decided that I would go till Cappadocia and decide there- if I should proceed further in the East of turn towards Ankara and safer places.
I searched my wallet, my Turkish liras were dwindling… and I needed more of them… I asked the hotel owner if he can exchange some for me… he offered me a rate of 1.45 and told me that dollar is falling… I exchanged 100 dollars for 145 Liras. The next few days I saw the topsy-turvy ride of dollar versus Lira.
It was time to take a hot shower and go to sleep… I was going to start my day early in the morning… catching the municipal bus from Pamukkale to Denizili at 7 am… days were getting shorter.
The next day, I woke up… gave a call to India… where my younger son was having his second birthday. I haven’t been able to be with him a lot… I was in Egypt when he was born in India… and then after a few months of stay with him in India… I stood transferred to Afghanistan… but from what my wife tells me- he is very fond of me- God bless him.
The municipal bus charges 1 Turkish Lira for the ride to Denizili… it drops you to the main Denizili Otogar (Bus stand)… and infront of the Otogar… one can find a number of Dolmus waiting for passengers to various destinations. It is a bit difficult to find Dolmus to Isparta… I took about half an hour to find it…
Isparta is a small town; famed for its University… it is often dubbed as the city of students… in my Dolmus, for instance, everyone –except me- was a student. I was told that some 15-20 kilometers from Isparta, there are few good Greco-Roman ruins… At Isparta, it was even more difficult to find a Dolmus to Egirdir… nobody knew about it… I was in a fix… but then I eventually found it…
The journey from Denizili to Isparta was uneventful… and so was large part of my journey from Isparta to Egirdir… but then when I was about to doze… I saw Egirdir for the first time… and was mesmerized by its beauty.
Egirdir is located in a bowl shaped valley … the road to Egirdir goes uphill… from where one can get fabulous panoramic views of the lake city… and then descends sharply.
Egirdir is located by a tranquil lake… surrounded by hills… very little population… clean and peaceful city… miles and miles of walkways alongside the lake… it has to be a magical place.
Luckily enough it is not yet on the tourist map of Turkey… not many know about it and therefore its one of the few off beat tourist spots. When I got down at Egirdir… I made up my mind that if I do not get a bus/dolmus to Konya in half an hour, I am going to stay here… I even checked out a cheap pension for myself… Lale Pension. I was told that one can go for hiking, fishing, boat rides, rock-climbing… everything in Egirdir at very little costs… the person at Lale Pension told me that if I choose to stay back… I would be most delighted… and might spend my entire vacation over here… he said that Egirdir is a family vacation spot.
I don’t know whether I was lucky or not… I found a bus to Konya within a few minutes… it was one of the buses from Denizili… from which a few passengers had alighted at Egirdir… generating a few seats… I bid adieu to this most beautiful city and promised that I would be back- with my family.
I reached Konya at around 6 pm… 2 hours before the 1 pm would have allowed me to reach Konya… I saved two hours and saw a very beautiful town of Egirdir, which would be forever etched in my heart for its enchanting beauty.
Konya is one of the three towns in Turkey that has tramway… I alighted at Konya Otogar, and took a Tram to Aladdin Tepesi (literally Aladdin Hills), the closest tram-station to the Maulana Rumi’s mausoleum… and checked into Hotel Ulusan.
Konya is often said to be the third largest city of Turkey… after Istanbul and Ankara… it is bustling, with big markets but very few foreign tourists… at Konya Otogar, I had a trouble finding an English speaking person… I tried Arabic, but met a tout… who tried to dissuade me from using Tram and instead offered me a taxi drive to Hotel Ulusan… then, finally, at the tramway station I met a girl who could speak a few words of English… she guided me to Aladdin Tepesi.
Konya Tramways doesn’t sell single ticket… it sells either two ride ticket or a five rides ticket… from anywhere to anywhere… it’s fast, timely and efficient… I wondered why don’t Indian cities have tramways… why tramways in most of the Indian cities ended in 1960s, when due to advent of cheap automobiles there was a anti-tram wave throughout the world… some experts feel that automobile industries sponsored papers after papers against the viability of trams… ending this very beautiful way of public transport.
After checking at Ulusan, it was time to have a quick dinner and then go to sleep… the next day I had to visit Konya city and push towards Cappadocia.
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