Bafa Lake

It was the puncture.. or was it my hunger that had led us to that secondary road from where we finally found a place to spend the night?  It was a hassle to find a good spot to camp, since it had already gotten dark and all the fields to our left and right were muddy.  Eventually, we found a small, solid patch of grass between a million piles of cow shit.  The next morning, we had breakfast, packed our tent and pushed our bikes back up to the road where we had come from the day before.   Ah, there was more grass and less cow shit on the other side of the road!  Probably less wind as well... but wait a minute, what was that?  Two people packing a tent!  ..and two bicycles!

Lena and Markus, an German-Austrian couple, traveling on their bikes in Europe (www.radlerse.de).  Very nice.  After a few "chai"s, Markus and Lena decided to join us to Hereikla, this unbelievably beautiful small village situated right next to lake Bafa.  Albert decided to grill some fish for us.  Only in the evening we found out that it had been Lena's birthday that day- a wonderful way to celebrate another year of life!

A turkish dog with turkish manners: We were his guests and he would protect us.  From cows and dogs but also from invisible enemies.  Sometimes he would take off running in one direction, bark a little bit, then in the other direction, bark a little bit, another direction... and finally join us again.   One day another dog approached our tent - they fought - what remains is a small hole in our tent and the memory of our good brave friend...

fish soup with the left overs.. and lemon leaves!  Mmmhhh...