Camp Oluza - Camp Poyrazla

Good morning from the waterfront at Camp Oluza!

At 6:25 AM the night was over, and we were awakened by the rising sun in the tower room of the green monster. Looking out the net window, it immediately became clear to me what an incredibly beautiful location we had spent the night in. Those who love the sea will probably rarely find a spot more beautiful than this. All the other members of our travel group were still asleep.

I set off on my morning exploration. On my way back, I made a detour of about 3m and was captivated for at least ten minutes by the Black Sea. The sun, already rising over the hills, made the water sparkle. Only the garbage, which the water was washing back to the edge of this rocky coastal section, was a disturbance. Due to my aversion to water temperatures below 25 degrees, I wouldn’t have dreamed of going into the sea here. Fortunately, there was also a multilingual sign warning against swimming in this part of the Black Sea. CAUTION! The currents common here have “cost the lives of dozens of swimmers” in recent years. So, I shouldn't have gone into the sea at all.

Gradually, the other travelers arrived at this wonderful spot. We claimed the bench that Ahmed had crafted. Then Kadir arrived with his prepared coffee creations, and it was clear to us without further communication that it could only be a wonderful day. We just had to overcome this small hurdle of the cold shower. The little watchdog, which allowed us a safe sleep, did not leave our side that morning either. Only when Rudy stood in the water at the sea, as usual, did he not follow her. The best guardian animals are said to be geese, and when Ahmed’s gang of geese marched in, the reason for that became quite clear. With deafening noise, they quickly made it clear that they were rather indifferent to my intention to take pictures of them.

Quickly finished the circuit training with the only station “push-ups” and off we went along the Black Sea coast. Unfortunately, only for a short while, as we then turned southwest, eventually heading onto the motorway towards Istanbul. The temperature on the display kept dropping. Kadir and I recalled our journey here a week ago, marveling at how long we had been traveling at over 1000m.

A few kilometers before Kastamonu, we agreed on a lunch stop, especially after discovering the culinary specialties of this region. We crossed Kastamonu and were a bit disillusioned due to the fact that the offerings were far less than we had hoped. Just then, Kadir stopped the travel vessel at an establishment that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. What a stroke of luck, as it became evident upon entering the store that I wouldn't be leaving without a glass of pickled cucumbers with peppers and garlic. Outside, we found a sunny spot, as despite the sun, it was quite cool. Attentive readers of this blog will have noticed that we were still missing rabbits in our collection of animals. Here we finally found them. Dozens of these treats sat and hopped around our feet. Julia immediately made friends with some offspring of the rabbits from her childhood, while a gentleman from the neighboring table inquired in German about our exact origin. As locals, we clearly didn’t fit in here.

After yet another fireworks display of delicious treats, we continued our journey. However, we had to once again make it clear to a furry buddy that we do not take hitchhikers. The rabbit almost softened us with its sad gaze. Just before departure, we decided not to drive all the way to Istanbul. We would have arrived against 20:00/ 21:00 and it would be tricky to navigate through this 17 million metropolis in the dark without being certain where exactly we could park it. Thus, we chose a campsite/ parking space by a lake near Sakarya. We would reach this only in the dark. However, we would only have a little less than 90 minutes to Istanbul the next day.

That said, we passed a few more cardboard checks and crossed Ismetpasa. The name of this place amused us, as Kadir's dad was named Ismet. The second part of the place name can surely be inferred without any knowledge of the Turkish language.

Camp Poyrazlar near Sakarya was rather under-frequented, which, of course, didn't bother us at all. By now, every hand was already firmly on deck, from the captain to the lowest rank, so we quickly prepared everything for the evening and the night. Kadir conjured up some amazing results on our table using the sandwich maker, where the cold Efes beers had just shone in the glasses.

At the end of this feast, Julia bid farewell towards the shower. When we began to seriously worry, she thankfully reappeared, joyfully smiling and announcing that there was now no warm water available. As all the other travelers favored morning body cleansing, we didn't care about this information at first.

That evening, we didn't linger long and wished each other goodnight quite early on our way to our sleeping quarters. We had no idea yet what dramatic, almost ghostly situation Rudy would have to endure in just a few hours…

Good night from Camp Poyrazlar