Category: Blog

Turkish translation tangle

When I planned this trip I had built in some time at the back end of it, in case anything went wrong, so that I wouldn’t have to play too much catch-up.

That’s why we were able to go hop over to Greece, and also why today and over the next two days we don’t have too far to travel.

Our journey today took us down to the coast of the Sea of Marmara. Leaving Kesan we were soon on the gravel roads.

We had our largest climb of the day relatively early. From the top we could see the Galippoli peninsula, and across the water, Asia for the first time.

Not having far to go we took a tea break in a small town. There is no sign of Turkish coffee, it’s tea everywhere.

After another quiet 20km we arrived in Sarkoy, a pretty fishing village that clearly is a Turkish holiday destination in high season.

We stopped for lunch at a fish restaurant. Using Google translate to order, I used polite words like “please.” Turns out there is a fish called (more or less) the Please Fish which I’d accidentally ordered (please = luften, expensive fish = lufter), so our lunch was more expensive than anticipated. I shall be more direct in my translations next time! We eat up, we move on.

Before our final destination there was a winery just at the roadside. We pulled in to check it out and tried to buy a bottle. Too expensive though, especially after our inadvertent treat lunch, so we pushed on.

Here we are now in the tiny village of Eriklice, lodging at a small guesthouse with definite Fawlty Towers vibes.

Tomorrow should bring some rain and one significant climb. We won’t be able to dodge the latter, but maybe we could get lucky with the former again?

Quick additional translation mix up! I’ve just been informed by our host this evening that “Ben” in Turkish means “I am.” He explained this following our introductory exchange. He pointed at himself and said “Ibrahim.” I did the same with my own name. He waited… and waited! Of course it looked like I was faltering over remembering my own name. Benjamin it is from now on!