After a long drive to Pumakkale, we took a shortish 3 hour run to Lake Egirdir. It is vast, covering some 480 sq. kms and is set just under 1,000 metres above sea level. It’s the second largest freshwater late in Turkey. Fishing was once its biggest lure (geddit?) with noteworthy lobster sized crayfish. Unfortunately, mainly due to excessive chemicals seeping in from agriculture (particularly apples), species have been very badly impacted. Also responsible are the silly-billies who decided to introduce pike-perch (zander) in 1955 which has, over time, gobbled up everything else. Anyway, it’s mainly off the Tripadvisor lists so its visitors are generally Turks. A fairly quiet, simple sort of place.
Our stop for the night was a modest pension, one or maybe two notches up from the one in Pamukkale. The shower was a shower for a start, without aspirations to be a bath and there was rather less silicone to be seen. But the aircon didn’t work and to walk up or down the marble stairs without killing yourself required dancing about like a lunatic until the dodgy PIR switches managed to catch you. The owner was friendly though and all in all, it was a gentle stopover.
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