Day 7 : Kasimlar to Aksu

After a copious breakfast, I passed through a mountain village. Beautiful located but pretty poor. 

I didn't how far I would get and where I would sleep. I knew there was a teahouse and pension in Ayvalıpınar. But getting a bit further would have been nice. 

In the teahouse, only men were sitting there, drinking tea, smoking and playing games. But the teahouse was run by a woman. A very warm lady, who spoke some German as well. I asked her if there was a pension in the next village, 17 km further north. I had seen two on Google maps. But, too bad, one was men only, and the other one full. The whole teahouse crowd was mingling in the discussion of where there would be some place to sleep. They startet looking on their phones, she started calling. I just waited, pretty sure there would be a solution.

After a while, she waved me over, trying to explain that I should cycle to that next village named Aksu. Once there, I should call a certain number. That number was the number from the municipality. Okay... I paid, waved good buy (güle güle in Turkish) and cycled to Aksu. 

In Aksu I translated a few words to Turkish before calling: tourist on bike, place to sleep, where I was at that moment (in front of the municipality  building).

Of course, we didn't understand each other on the phone. I repeated my location hoping the guy on the phone would look outside in front of the building. Which he did :-). I was brought to the mayor, who sat in his nicely furnished office. Coffee was served. A few words were said (which I didn't understand). He was in discussion with someone else. I waited, drank very strong Turkish espresso, and after a while I was supposed to follow outside. I had to follow a car which brought me to a dormitory for students. 

Tea and cake was served. Some chit chat between the guy who brought me and the lady from the house. A student came and we google-translated that I would like a place to sleep. He fixed it, my room tonight:

Everything works out here.... just ask, take your time, drink tea, and believe in these people.  

Later, I spent the evening with some of the male students. I guess, they had a really good laugh with me, but it was great :-)

Thanks guys for making my day!