From Pamukkale to Egirdir
After Pamukkale our next must see destination in Turkey was Cappadocia which was more than 8 hours drive away. It was a long drive and we found two places in between that deserved a night stop each. The first was Egirdir and the 2nd was Konya.
The drive from Pamukkale to Egirdir was about 3 hours. Along the route was many scenic sights which could be seen directly as we drove.
Guneykent
Near to Egirdir we detoured out to a famous rose town/valley, Guneykent. We were 1 week off the rose harvesting season but we were keeping our fingers crossed hoping to be able to see some rose fields, rose product manufacturing process and buy some rose products in the town.
We knew we got to the right place, Guneykent town from the big “rose entry” at the beginning of the town. We drove into town but the whole place was very quiet and deserted. The rose factory was closed, no workers or machines running. We searched around town for shops selling rose products but the shops were all closed. We looked around for a cafe for a good coffee break but found none. It looked like Guneykent was not a “visitable” town outside rose harvesting season!
Egirdir
Before our trip we were debating if we should stay in Egirdir, a small town or in Isparta a much bigger town. After much thought we picked the more scenic Egirdir
We reached Egirdir at about 4pm in the afternoon. Once we checked in and rested we were off to a high view point that would give us a great view of Egirdir peninsula by the lake of Egirdir.
We drove up a hill, going along a route on google map. We were not sure when the road would end and how far we would need to trek to the cafe. We parked on an empty land and walked up a slope where a signboard pointed to the cafe. We were surprised to see a nice quaint cafe. It had indoor and outdoor cafe areas.
We ordered two cups of cafe latte and took them out to the outdoor area to drink. Wow! The view was great! At the cafe viewpoint we saw the “peninsula” that stretched beautifully out into Egirdir Lake.
We were the only visitors at Baba Keyf Cafe. We were told by the owner that usually in the evening the locals would come up to the cafe, as the night view was very beautiful too. We were sure that the night scene would be lovely but we did not wait till night fall to catch the view or came back again in the night. We were already very contented with the great cafe latte and the day view.
Dinner at KROİSOS RESTAURANT
The restaurant was just by the lake less than 20 m from our stay Gol Pension. We ordered dinner and ate our meal very very slowly. We were “savouring” the golden scenery around us as the sun set. The meal costed 380tl. A lovely meal with a lovely view!
Our Stay
Our stay was at GOL Pension. It was sited near the tip of the peninsula. Car parking was just infront of the Pension and the lake was just across the road.
Our double room at GOL Pension was very clean and comfortable, it had an suite toilet with shower. Our room had full length window that looked out to the lake. The cost of the room for two for a night with breakfast was Euro60.
The breakfast served on the next day was Turkish breakfast. In the dining room we saw a very old photo and we learnt from our host that the peninsula that we saw was actually created by connecting two smaller islands to the mainland!
Other Accommodations in Egirdir