Day 8 : Aksu to Yenişarbademli

When I opened the window last night, I recognized the smell of the outside air from my studies in East Germany, back in 1997. It was the smell of burning coal.

It's cold here at night, about 5°C. The houses are not insulated. They are still using coal to heat. According to Wikipedia, coal supplies a quarter of Turkey's primary energy. And that share is not to be reduced that soon...

The cold night became an awesome day. Clear blue sky, about 18°C, ideal weather to get over the pass with a plezant cool breeze. 

I left the dormitory and started climbing up to 1800 m. Surprisingly, there was more animal than motor traffic on the road. 

I'd expected rather heavy traffic, but fortunately the old road is not used much anymore. And I could slowly manage to get the loaded bike up there.

With the satisfaction of a long descent, I arrived at the destination of the day, Yenişarbademli.

The ritual of finding a place to sleep is starting to get routine: drinking a çai in a tea house. Asking if there is a pension nearby / or asking if the one on Google maps actually exists. Communicating via Google translate. By the time I arrive at the pension, they are usually already informed. Very convenient.

This time, two sisters welcomed me, offered tea and started calling. 

(Some of the students last night also called me sister. Or abla, which means older sister or in general woman.)

A few minutes later the manager arrived, repeated what the sisters already told me. But he was the one doing the administration and the money.  

The two ladies were looking after me. I asked, if they had a washing machine. No problem, she pushed me to give her my laundry! Fresh clothes tomorrow... nice (and really necessary 🙂).

Dinner and breakfast was included. Served at 5.30pm and 9am in the canteen on top of the building. They are definitely no early birds here.

The pension was full of young people, with an obvious separation between men and women. The same situation as yesterday, at the dormitory. They didn't mingle. An exception was the girlfriend of one of the guys and a friend of her who joined last night.