Hardly any photos today – sorry about that.
My rest day was a sweltering 38 degree day spent mainly in the hotel with the Aircon working overtime. Outside was a furnace akin to venturing outside in Bukhara.
Breakfast at the hotel was fun. The traditional way is by smorgasbord but to me, most of the food is savoury and therefore better suited to the evening meal or lunch. I probably looked confused as I scanned the tables for some fruit, bread and eggs. I got the first two, made toast and settled in. The attendant was watching my every move – try this, try that, nescafe here … (I swear it was international roast). I had some chai, ate, then thanked him. We were immediately best friends.
I had a relaxing morning coffee at a nice cafe nearby. They exist here in the more cosmopolitan of places but not in the regular towns and villages.
I left the cafe at about 11am and spent less than a minute sweltering on my way back to the hotel.
The ride to Soma
Today was ten degrees cooler and I felt great (my watch agreed, so I must be right).
My route out of Balikesir to the south west took me through a large industrial area. In fact there is industry nearly all the way through to Bergama.
It wasn’t exciting but it certainly wasn’t a boring day. After the industrial area was a pleasant climb with very little traffic. It was hot though, and nearing lunch time I pulled into the town of Savastepe. Google tolde of a cafe in the main street. It must have moved because I found it before I got to the main street. I thought I was in luck. It had good reviews and pictures on the menu which was lucky because nobody spoke English. So, I pointed to what I wanted and the result was fairly close with just a few ingredients missing.
I then went to a supermarket for a couple of bottles of water and was interrogated by the shop assistants using google translator.
You’ve ridden from where ? Thailand ? No ! How old are you ? Why do you do this ? Do you like Turkey ? Do you travel alone ? Do you get punctures? Are you married ? Aren’t you lonely ? Why ?
And so it went on. They were very nice about it, but after a minute of questioning, some of the customers joined in. They didn’t want to serve me until they finished their questions, so I was there for about half an hour. It felt even hotter when I got back on the bike and got going again.
After a bit more climbing and roadwork, Soma appeared.
I stayed at another nice hotel but it was a bit out of town. Thankfully, they had a restaurant that provided a set menu for guests. Soup, kofte, salad and some sort of milk desert filled me to the brim.