- Ibrahim will come to Serpil for me today, so if you want to talk to him, you would have the opportunity, but you will have to slow down your walking pace a bit - Rita laughs.
I thought it was a good idea, although in fact I was a little worried at first about the drastic slowdown as my pace is generally considered quite fast. It turned out, however, that Rita was quite efficient, and the opportunity to talk to someone on the road was a nice change from constant conversations with myself.
In this way, I could find out, for example, that she is a fan of handball and a supporter of Wisła Płock. And by that I mean, a real fan! Once, during a visit to this city, her friends invited her to a Wisła match and... that's how her fascination with the discipline itself and supporting 'the Oilers' began, at whose matches she has been attending each time she visited Płock since then. The next one is coming this autumn. At the national level, she has already acted as a coordinator of representatives of visiting fans during the World or European Championships in Hungary. From our talented generation, unfortunately already retiring, she liked Bielecki, Michał Jurecki and Syprzak the most.
She regretted that as a result of the direction of the politics and certain decisions of her prime minister, whom she generally does not like, the centuries-old Polish-Hungarian friendship was put to a serious test. On the other hand, the friendship itself was already talked about by us pleasantly. I mentioned my numerous meetings with Hungarians at various events in London when I was still living in England. And about a visit to the Revolution 56 pub in Budapest on Bem Prospect, when I was not allowed to pay for the first 2 or 3 beers once I'd indicated that I was from Poland.
That's how we got to Serpil shortly before 4 pm. I had a word with Ibrahim that the next day I was to call him when I got to Eğirdir, and the accommodation would be easy to find (Ibra has three guest houses next to each other). So it happened. Rita was already gone, because she was leaving for Antalya yesterday morning, from where she had a return flight to Budapest. By the way, she had also spent a long time in Turkey, over a month, partly traveling with friends, partly alone.
And today, after a nutritious breakfast, I went up the peak of Sivri Tepe visible from the terrace. Because what else can one do with oneself during a mountain trip's day off? Climbing the next mountain, of course! But it was absolutely worth it, because the views from this prominent peak in all directions are just second to none!
- Isn't the man's name Ibrahim by any chance? - I asked.
- Yes, exactly - Rita replied somewhat surprised.
It turned out that, by complete coincidence, the girl had found accommodation at the place of a man whose telephone number I had received from Hüseyin in the office in Antalya as a possible useful contact when I found myself in the Eğirdir area. I was going to contact him when the time to cross that huge lake would come. It is crossed using private carriers and it is Ibra who is a very helpful person in coordinating the entire process. However, Rita showed me photos and a video from her quarters in Eğirdir, spectacularly situated on a promontory. A charming place, a breakfast terrace on the roof overlooking the lake, the city and the towering peak of Sivri Tepe (1719 m above sea level) and the excellent English-speaking host, with whom I was supposed to contact anyway. It sounded encouraging. As Eğirdir is the only town on the entire St. Paul's, so beautifully located, and from the very beginning I assumed taking a day off here anyway, so why not treat self to a bit of luxury?
The day before yesterday, for the first time on this trip, I was not walking alone. And it was like this...
Reaching the tiny village of Erenler, I noticed a girl in the distance with a small backpack, who was stubbornly trying to get off the road into some bushes, or rather, to break through the pile of branches and sticks piled in this place. I was wondering what was she going there for? I stopped thinking when I got to this place myself and it turned out that in fact both the phone and the signs in the field indicated that this was where I should get off the road. So after a while I went into these branches. The girl turned around and, slightly surprised to see anyone, asked if it was really here? I said that according to my app it looked like it. A moment later we had to break through the closed gate and we were alone with the slope. Finding another white and red mark on the stone, we knew we were in the right place. Now the time to get acquainted came.
It turned out that Rita was from Hungary. She lives in a town located right at the foot of the highest "peak" in this country. She has been working in the financial and insurance sector for years, thanks to which she speaks excellent English. Several times she pointed out the marking of the trail and the fact that she was staying in Eğirdir with a guy who marked all the surrounding routes and was a well-known person in the whole region. An idea came up to my head.
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