Ürkmez

I left my couchsurfer's place around 9am, went to the bakery across the corner again for some breakfast sandwich and a snack for the way, and started my trip for the day. I left early to have enough time to explore the ancient city of Ephesus, which is almost on the way up the coast from Kuşadası. I reached Ephesus after about an hour. Since the site has just opened, it wasn't too busy yet. :) I could also park my bike with the security people, so I wouldn't have to worry about all my stuff, which is always a good feeling wandering off. :) When entering the site, one had to walk through (it was hanging almost to the ground) the largest Turkish flag that I've ever seen. :D Not sure if it was only there due to independence day and the festivities, but it was enourmous!! I first went to the remains of the church Mary which was off the main track a little, then I went towards the main sights including a huge Greek ancient theater (yes, Greek, they've really been everywhere) and the remains of the third biggest ancient library. By that time, many tourist busses have arrived and the place got super crowded unfortunately. After around 2h on the site, I continued my trip to the north. I didn't quite know where I would stay that night and how far I would get, I didn't have a couchsurfer, the cities along the way were also not big enough to find hostels there. So I decided on camping. There were many campsites indicated on Google maps along the way, most of them rated pretty poorly. 😅 But I didn't really care too much, it was just one night. The road along the coast was pretty nice with beautiful views. I could see across the bay to Kuşadası even. The only annoying thing was the strong wind from the front, which really slowed me down a lot.. it'll remain this windy all the way to Istanbul locals told me.. 😅

About 65km and 5pm, I decided to stop at a campsite in Ürkmez. It was really hard to find since there was no sign on the road. When I asked a guy on the beach (couldn't speak much English), he pointed to the beach and said "no camp, sleep here". :D Eventually I found the campsite which was a huge construction site. Besides one older guy, Nader, who lives in a cottage on the campground, no other guests were there. The locals were fixing cottages and painting facilities when I arrived. Nader was also the only one able to speak English. He invited me over to his cottage and offered me to cook in his kitchen instead of my little camping stove, which I later did. Well he did actually, he insisted. :D After setting up my tent, I went for a nearby grocery store. I got some sort of turkish dumpling but didn't know what sauce I'd have to eat with it and didn't want to embarras myself bringing pesto or something like that, so I asked the lady in the store via Google translater and she had a lot of fun bringing me all these ingredients that are way too much in size for just one dish and to take on my bicycle (a whole pack of garlic, spices, 500g of yoghurt). Since it wasn't expensive, I took it with me anyways and decided to leave the things with Nader. In Nader's cottage, he insisted on preparing the food for me and I gladly accepted. Pretty sure it was much more authentic and more delicious what he prepared compared to what I could have prepared. 😄 It was really good and he also offered me fresh herbs, onions, and reddish with it. Later on he put some fruits and walnuts on the table, not long after that we were drinking his selfmade Raki. 😂 The Raki was surprisingly good!! I also really enjoyed talking to him, even though he's 76 years old he's quite young in mind and is very curious about what young people are up to nowadays and what they think about the world. :) He also shared his personal life story with me and showed me pictures. He lives in the cottage for about two years now, his wife is in a long-term caring facility close by due a health condition. I had a really nice evening getting to know him, Turkish food, and the country better through Nader. He also insisted on preparing me Turkish breakfast with Ayran in the morning before I leave. :)
It was a pretty cold night, temperatures drop down to 10°C now and even though my sleeping bag is pretty good, camping is not that much fun anymore. 😅 I wasn't too cold though but it wasn't warm enough either to sleep properly, unfortunately.Read more