Bear Trakker: Day 28: Pamukkale to Tuz Golu

As we had a long drive ahead of us through non-major roads in Turkey today, we setoff from the campground early. Not particularly refreshed from a short nights sleep, we planned to take a few breaks along the way and arrive late in the day. There were several lakes that we would be passing along the way, as well as the city of Beyşehir on a lake of the same name, that would be the major break in our drive for lunch and a wander around.

After about an hour of driving, we started to pass through orchards lining both sides of the road, with crops and livestock grazing not to be seen. The orchards were planted on the gentle slopes of the lakes which we were passing, and were a hive of activity with locals riding about in some ingenious contraptions that were something of a cross between an old style tractor and new fangled ride on lawn mower. They were narrow to fit between the rows of fruit trees, but (just) fast enough not to be dangerous on the highway splitting the working area.

It seemed that the whole population was employed in the fruit industry; men and women young and old, children and the family pets all seemed to have a role to play. Fresh fruit was available everything at roadside stalls, mostly stone fruit both with also some apples and pears.

Stopping for a 'Driver Reviver' near Lake Egirdir

By about mid-day, we had reached the town of Beyşehir where we stopped to peruse the market, wander about the promenade, have some lunch and shop for items for dinner. The lake water was actually a blue (aqua marine) colour, similar to that of the other lakes that we had passed, which was somewhat of a surprise. It was cloudy when viewed up close, but a brilliant blue from afar.

Frivolity on Lake Lake Beyşehir in the town of the same name

Surprising locals unused to tourists, we wandered about the market which seemed to be in the process of shutting down. Perhaps we were a little late, but Gerle managed to pick out a few items for herself and as presents for those at home.

Turkish Gerle... new scarf in perfect colour combination with her outfit.

After the market, we sat to eat in a shady open air restaurant beneath tall and leafy trees. It was very relaxing watching the locals go about their business and also relaxing around us. No-one seemed in much of a hurry, and our lunch stretched out over an hour and a half. Interestingly, there were outdoor beanbags for people to sit and snooze in, in which local children and adults were partaking.

Kids relaxing in a shady park in downtown Beyşehir

Men playing board games and drinking tea in the park in Beyşehir (an unlikely possibility in Australia!)

After lunch, we wandered around the park and market a little more before returning to the water where we had seen paddle boats for hire. Gerle having not been on such a craft before, and me keen to rack up as many different forms of transport on this holiday as possible, were both keen to have a go. We hired a paddleboat dressed as a car, complete with convertible shade cloth roof, and headed out onto the water.

With a reasonably strong breeze blowing in from the water, we were confined to a small inlet, but paddled away contentedly for about 30 minutes before returning to the water. Not too much happened on the water, but we showed our muscle outpacing a group of four paddlers and 'darted' about some of the larger ships that were taking tourists on joyrides around the lake.

Working hard on the paddle boat

I wasn't paddling too much harder...

We blitzed them for speed. Swans aren't quick out of the box.

After lunch we quickly did some shopping for food to cook for dinner at a local supermarket, before getting in the car once more. We were only about half way to our planned destination for the evening, and a lot of kilometres were still to be chewed up. Luckily, the road improved, and once we had arrived at the city of Konya (another large Turkish city with a few million inhabitants, seemingly in the middle of nowhere) we were on an excellent Autostrada for most of the rest of the way.

Shortly before Konya, the landscape changed dramatically again. Now it was extremely flat in all directions, with no hills visible until the horizon. The land was irrigated, and crops were growing and being harvested in massive fields the size of small countries. Far to the east, we sometimes glanced our destination on the horizon, Tuz Golu (Salt Lake). We had planned to drive around it however, to the shore that was closer to our destination the following day.

As we rounded the lake and approached the eastern shoreline, there were several bays on the road to pull over to such that one could get out of the car and set off on foot to check out the salt lake, which we did. Parking the car, we walked out a few hundred metres from the road to inspect the saltiness.

The lake where we were (and as far as we could see) was bone dry, with the surface cracked in the parched conditions. A few millimetres of water on the surface of the lake would have made for some amazing photos, with the resulting reflection creating the illusion of 'standing on water', but we had to do with what we had. Still, some of the images created were pretty interesting.

We both had a bit of a taste of the salt underfoot, and yes surprise surprise it was salty. After wandering about a little, feeling the softness of the mud beneath the dried crust, we decided to return to the car and set about finding a camping spot.

Walking onto the salt flat

Bone dry... no, it is not water on the horizon... that is an illusion.

Like a jigsaw puzzle

If only there was some water...

Mmm... yep... salty, with a slight odour of mud.

Hooray! For once a creative cameo photographer!

Back in the car, we quickly covered another 40 km or so south down the eastern shoreline, hoping to find an access track to the lake where we might setup camp. Unfortunately, the gap between the main road and the shoreline was increasing, and no access tracks other than those fit for the tractors cultivating the land were present.

A little jaded, we headed in the opposite direction, into a small village on the opposite side of the main road to the lake. Stopping to hopefully get some beer and wine for dinner, we were a bit surprised to find that nowhere in town sold alcohol.... later we found that the whole province, including the city of Konya, was alcohol free! How do people live?!?!

Passing through the city, we looked for a campsite on the hilltop that overlooked the lake, but couldn't find anywhere that afforded both protection from the wind (which had increased as we climbed the ridge line) and privacy. Essentially we would have been camping in someones fields, within line of site of their home, so this in combination with the wind, high population of prickle bushes and generally not so great conditions underfoot we descended again to look for somewhere in the fields between the main road and the lake.

Crossing the highway, we moved slowly through the maze of tractor tracks bordering the planted, growing and harvested crops toward the lake. Figuring it was more than 10 km to the lake itself, we resigned to the fact that we would need to camp short of the lake but far enough from the noise of the highway. Once we were about one or two kilometres from the highway, we stopped in an area devoid of crops and set about unpacking the camp.

Though not as windy as on the hilltop, the breeze was still quite strong. With tinder dry grass and crops around us, using the BBQ was a bit of a worry, but we managed to setup closely enough to the car so that there was no wind about it. We had a pretty nice dinner of grilled chicken, buttered corn on the cob and roast peppers by torchlight, before packing it all way and climbing into the tent for bed. Bed was early, as we planned to wake at 5am the next morning to vacate the fields before anyone came across us, and also to make the most of our first day in Goreme.