29th of April, 2022.
A young girl stops her car. I can barely believe. It is very difficult to a woman to stop but for a young woman is even harder! She is adorable! Only 24 years old and so brave! She wants to travel too but she is very busy with her work now, plus she believes it can be expensive. I try to enlighten her in both ways: that she must put her happiness in first place in her life and work less, doing what she truly wants and what makes her happy; and the fact that she can find many ways of travelling cheaper. She is a good girl and I wish her all the best.
Unfortunately it is a short ride and she drops me off on the road, near Seki.
I feel sorry and ashamed but I cannot remember much about the next guy who stopped for me. His name is Jan and I wrote down that he drove me to… Antalya? I remember where he picked me up and the gas station he dropped me off, but I can’t remember of him.
It feels weird to hitchhike in here, at this spot. It is a very busy road, kind of outside of Antalya and on the way to my next destination: Aspendos Amphitheatre.
Two guys stop in a white BMW. They say they are going to Aspendos, for visiting, so I can come with them.
I am very lucky that Mikail and Berkan decided to pick me up, otherwise I don’t know what I would do. First because the Amphitheatre is quite out of the highway, so it is much luck that I got someone going there; second because when I try and ask the man at the tickets office to let me go in for free, he refuses. So Mikail offers to buy me a ticket. I try to refuse but they say it is really nothing for them and they want to help. So I accept.
Aspendos Amphitheatre was built during the reign of Marcus Aurelios (161-180 AD) according to a project by a Greek architect (some websites suggest he was Roman), called Zeno. It is really well preserved, even though many parts have been restored. I think it looks gorgeous anyway.
The whole complex it goes much beyond the Amphitheatre. There are ruins from the baths, basilica, agora, etc. Plus some beautiful Roman aqueduct and bridge. It totally worth a visit, in my opinion.
The guys are funny and we laugh a lot. We meet a young woman, a swimmer, from Estonia, and we chat and explore the place together for a while. She is lovely!
They invite me for lunch but I am afraid I will not have enough time. They give me enough water and candies! They drop me off at the same place they picked me up. I just grab a new piece of cardboard from the shop and write Seydisehir, a small town not far from here, only because it is quite late already, so I am hoping to travel at least a few more hours, instead of doing a even longer trip all the way to Goreme from here.
I am super lucky again because the two guys who pick me up next are also super cool! Mustafa and Youssef are going to Seydisehir and are very surprise that I am trying to get in there. But they understand when I explain my plan. They are such nice guys and now I wish I had wrote down some notes about them.
When we arrive in Seydisehir, we try to find a place for me to camp near the highway. The guys try to find someone at the mosque but without success. Then we agree that I would be safe camping in this small park, super well looked after, because it is front of some houses. We ask an elderly couple who is in front of their house, if they think it would be OK, and they say yes. They even show me where I can find some water. Great!
After I say goodbye to my new friends, I start putting my tent up. The lovely elderly lady with whom we talked, made me a delicious egg sandwich, with some fresh salad from her garden, and brings to me. So wonderful! After I eat my delicious dinner, I go to sleep.
Unfortunately, the street which was so peaceful and quite during the evening, gets really busy and loud during the night. I don’t know what the hell was going on, but a lot of cars and men were standing there, talking loudly and disturbing me for many hours. Nobody actually came to my tent, even though I could tell they were wondering what was happening and who could I possibly be.
