10 May, Bandirma
Göznur Otel 70TL

It rained all night, dripping through our bathroom ceiling and splatting on our cistern, and was raining still when we awoke in our basic little room with its purple sheets, three steep flights up from ground level. A good excuse to find a coffee shop, the Voodoo Bistro, where we have spent the day ensconced alone in their upstairs room, connected to the net, catching up with our emails and notes. We breakfasted on soup and bread (çorba and ekmek) and both had our hair cut at a tiny barber shop, Charl shaving his beard for the first time since our first cycle trip together in 1998. We have learned a few Turkish essentials: ç is pronounced ch; ş is pronounced sh; c is pronounced j. We are struggling to stay within our budget of $65 per day, hotels being much more expensive than we had read. Shortly after noon today, from the Voodoo window, we saw the entire populace come to a halt as the national anthem was played in the square below.