*** A famous quote by Benoit Paul Denis Joseph Marie Yves Hanquet
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| Bagoren village |
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| Pomegranates blossoming like flowers |
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| Devouring the pomegranates |
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| Barla village |
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| Rainbow welcoming us to the ancient city of Adada |
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| The famous Roman road, highlight of the day |
Lake Egirdir looked very inviting in the morning with
sunshine reflecting off of its crystal clear water. We were very fortunate to
have clear skies and sunshine this time of the year. Benoit took the credit for
organizing everything so perfectly that the sun was shining due to his
organizational skills. After breakfast we took a short ride to a village nearby
called Bagoren, which contained about 20-25 houses, of which many were deserted.
This was to be the case in almost every single village we stopped by. With the
younger generations opting for the comforts of the city life, there’re hardly
anyone left in the villages but a few old timers. After a 2 hour walk through a
trail we arrived at the town of Barla and it welcomed us with a pomegranate
tree with its fruit all exploded looking like blooming flowers, inviting us to
enjoy the fruit without even having to go through the hassle of picking,
splitting, peeling the fruit. Huseyin explained us that a heavy rainfall after
a draught would cause the fruit to burst from absorbing too much water too
quickly. Stuffing ourselves with the nature’s offering, we arranged a car to
drive us back to our starting point where we had left our car. We were driving
over to Sutculer to stay overnight and meet couple of Benoit’s friends who were
to join us for a couple of days when we saw the road sign for Adada, an ancient
Roman city. Even though we had only an hour before the nightfall we decided to
make the most of it and see the city. This time we were welcomed not by a fruit
tree but a beautiful rainbow, we had the universe working on our side. Going
through the ruins of the ancient city, Benoit kept assuring us that the
highlight was just a little further down, so we kept going and going, not
knowing what the highlight was. It was already dusk with the daylight
diminishing minute by minute. Huseyin and I decided to go little faster ahead
of them to check how much further we had to go and whether it was doable before
it got dark or not. We came to a large stone road laid down by the Romans that
was trailing all the way from the city sitting on top of the mountain through the
valley that revealed itself in front of us going down to the bottom. We decided that going down a glorious Roman
road with the striking view of the valley in front of us must be the highlight
Benoit was talking about. The rain was getting heavier by that time, it was
misty and almost dark, and we were way too far down to go back up altogether. I
turned back to run up the mountain to get the car and meet the others at the
bottom. It took them a while to get to the bottom and by that time Aysun’s legs
were shaking from exerting herself and holding on to Benoit tightly to not fall
in the dark on a slippery ground. She was exhausted but was keeping her spirits
up, so the walk down on a Roman road under rain in the dark became the
highlight of our first day.
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