So our second day in Eğirdir was nature day. After our Turkish breakfast (I'm gonna miss them- believe it or not, I even eat the cucumber now), we drove an hour or so to a national park northeast of town. I think I'll just post pictures, to explain that way:
This sign greeted us as we entered the park. The point is: Turkish parks have everything American ones do (squirrels, rabbits, deer) plus, ya know- leopards. We cracked up for hours. Is this even hilarious? I don't know. Sometimes I think that our collective sense of humor is so relative to our experience here that others may not get it. Anyways, we didn't see any juaguars or whatever's on the sign, so maybe the sign was a joke itself.
God, was this place beautiful: a perfectly clear, flower lined stream surrounded by towering peaks.
But beyond the astounding natural beauty, the park is significant because it contains a portion of the ancient Royal Road. The Road, originally built by the Persians in the 6th century BC, ran from Susa (in southwest Iran) to Sardis (in western Turkey). It was said that messengers could travel its nearly 1,700 miles in a week. For a little more perspective, this was the route Alexander the Great took when he conquered the known world in the fourth century BC. The Road, or at least what we walked, is not in very good condition today, but it's still spine-tingling to consider that you're following the same route that, say, Xerxes did over two millenia ago. That sense of history is heightened when you see things like this right next to you:
This is a random Greek engraving on the cliff side that lines much of the road. Not sure what it means; all you classicists out there, get to work! We saw 4 or 5 of these.When we reached a suitable location, we put down our stuff and swam among the pools and waterfalls for a good 3 hours, much of it in one particularly beautiful grotto with high cliffs for jumping.
That night, we gathered around our hostel's TV for the day's main event, Turkey vs. Croatia in the Euro Cup quarterfinals. After 90 minutes of play, the score was tied at zero (exhilarating, except not at all), so the game went into a fifteen minute overtime. Still tied, so there was another, after which there would be a shoot-out if still tied. With two minutes left (at the 118:42 mark!!), Croatia scored. What a letdown; all this time wasted. Turkey's final drives all collapsed, and it appeared that the extra minute of stoppage time would be just as unproductive. Just before the final whistle, at 121:12, Turkey finally scored, the latest goal in Euro Cup history. It was so improbable, so incredibly exciting- so Turkey. With so much momentum, Turkey's victory in the shoot-out seemed assured, and the Turks sealed victory only 3 shots into the 5-shot shoot-out. God, what a game. In the entire tournament, Turkey has led for nine minutes; they play Germany on Wednesday, and I can only assume that they will score 7 goals in the final minute to win. One bad thing- Eğirdir is a town of about 10, so there were no celebrations to speak of; how incredible would it have been to be in Istanbul or Ankara!! I find it a little hard to believe how much I've been swept up in this whole soccer thing, but I'm there cheering as hard as the Turks, cursing and congratulating the players (whose names I mostly know now) and generally acting like a football fan. One of Turkey's biggest dailies, Aksam, had this headline the next day: VIYANA'YI ASTIK, KUPAYI ISTIYORUZ: We passed over Vienna (where the game was held; a not-so-subtle reference to the famous unsuccessful Ottoman sieges of 1529 and 1683?); now we want the cup! Turkey is missing about half its lineup against Germany, the favorite to win the Cup, but at this point, anything seems possible.
We left Eğirdir the next morning on a packed bus for Konya, a city of about 1.5 million, 3 hours away. The drive was beautiful,
and, much to the chagrin of our horrible 'tour-leader', included a stop at a 13th century wooden (only one of its kind) Seljuk mosque. Arriving in Konya, we grabbed a quick lunch and went off to meet our host, the Shields' friend Mehmed. He's a carpet dealer, and it's his village in which we'll be staying tomorrow and Tuesday. He gave us a tour of the homes of some of his employees, women who weave carpets at their homes throughout the city. It was so interesting to see them work and walk through the neighborhoods. It was a beautiful night. Unfortunately though, I wasn't feeling well, so I went to bed early. It's about dinner time now on Sunday; we've had a very full day, so I don't have time to actually catch up to real time! Maybe tonight; hopefully, because we certainly won't have internet in the tiny (pop. 1,000) Taurus Mountain village we're going to tomorrow for two days. Until next time, miss you all and thanks for reading!
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