Wiebe Wakker
October 16, 2016
Day 215 | Saturday October 15
Fully charged we left to the next stop. It’s nice to say ‘we’, traveling alone is great but sharing the experience with someone else is a nice feeling too. We decided to go to Yenicaga, the scenery became very different from the first part in Turkey. A lot of hills and green surroundings, beautiful to drive through. We did a short stop in Bolu, on the way to Yenicaga. There was a Esarj charging station and just wanted to see how it works. They are well designed and have a Type 2 connector, like you would expect. Next to the Esarj station was another charger from an unknown provider were a Prius was getting juice, the first (semi) EV i’ve saw in Turkey.
Yenicaga is a tiny village next to a lake, which was the reason that brought us here. The night before we searched for a hotel online and we thought we find a place. When we got there it appeared to be a hotelschool with no beds available. The activity in the city was centralized to one street where locals gathered. People where very happy to help us and it was no problem to find food and a place to stay at the only hotel in town.
After we settled we did a walk around the lake. The feeling here was different too, we could really feel that we were higher. The air was thiner and temperatures lower. Around the lake locals seem gather and make barbecues or parties leaving all their stuff behind and making a big mess, a shame.
For dinner we went to a local restaurant. They don’t have menus here, they ask you to walk to the kitchen and look in the pans what they have prepared.
Day 216 | Sunday October 16
We found out the best places for breakfast are restaurants next to the highway. They have a bigger variety of choices as most restaurants in towns. They also clean your car while your eating which is a nice extra and only the second time this trip my car had a wash. A few weeks ago someone wrote “wash me” on the dust of the back window so it was necessary.
Today we drove to Ilgaz, a wintersport area so the village was surrounded by mountains. Again this town felt completely different than the day before. It was a bigger and more crowded. Our hotel was located about 3 km from the center and we decided to walk there. Narrow dusty roads where locals were doing their daily routine led us to the city center. Hungry as we were we walked into some restaurants. At one place the windows were covered with plastic bags so we couldn’t see how it looked from the inside. When we had a look it made sense, it was not a restaurant (although many signs on the wall said it was) but a bar. Turkey is of course a very religious country were alcohol is not allowed so they need to hide this. Still not sure if it was a restaurant with alcohol opportunities or only a bar we asked if we could eat here. He brought us to the refrigerator and inside was only a melon, it was clear now. A hilarious experience.
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