Sunday October 6, 2019
SAKARYA, Turkey – Before we hit the road toward Istanbul, we completed a few chores.
First, there was the issue of laundry. Over the past two weeks, we both accumulated quite a bit and found a laundromat on our way out of Ankara. With the savior of GPS, we found what Waynette identified as only a handful of laundromats in the city and we were able to find a convenient location.
On Sunday, we encountered the first “weather day” on the trip with rain in Ankara. Plus, the temp dropped to around 60 degrees and, for the first time since we left the states, we felt a chill in the air.
Nonetheless, we found the laundromat on a fairly busy street, dropped Waynette off and went in search of a parking spot. About three blocks from the laundromat, there was an abandoned soccer stadium and found a spot on the street.
By this time, it was really raining but I managed, with shorts and a fleece top, to wander back to the laundromat. Sitting by an open door, Waynette said our things would be professionally done by a woman working on site. She would fold everything and the clothes would be neatly be placed in a plastic bag. The cost was about $10 US and ready within one hour.
The woman displayed a friendly face, engaging personality and continually smiled. She offered tea, which Turkish people drink several times a day. After she brought our tea on a tray, I noticed an older man entering the laundromat with several loaves of bread. Since we decided to have “a picnic” with cheese, tomatoes, olives (for Waynette because I can’t stand olives) and bread, we were curious where the man secured his bread.
Since we had another 45 minutes before the laundry was finished, we left and went in search of a mini-mart for the bread.
Next to the laundromat was a barber shop. Waynette killed me over the past week for a hair cut and I continually brushed her “demand” aside. As we walked by the barber shop, she stopped and the shopkeeper came out. Waynette pointed to me and motioned to the barber. Time to get “clipped,” as my father would say.
The shopkeeper smiled and waved us inside. Reluctantly, I climbed on a chair and he began.
After a few minutes, he stopped and said, “Hassan,” and then pointed to Waynette seated on a chair.
“I’m Waynette,” she said, and pointed to me. “Mark.”
Hessian smiled and said, “Mark,” his only word of English.
So, Hassan continued and seemed to have a good time. He was quite professional, meticulous and spent nearly one hour working on me. When I said “working,” that was probably an understatement. That’s because I never experienced, and probably never will, the services Hassan performed.
After I thought he finished, he began to massage my shoulders and neck. Then, he sprayed a clear liquid, with a citrus scent, on my hands and messaged both hands. Still not finished, he clipped around a final time, including my nose and ears, and then declared the job complete.
Waynette said I looked really good and all the curls on my head disappeared. She could not stop laughing and marveled how Hassian managed to make the curls vanish.
When we were ready to leave, he offered tea, perhaps coffee, and we declined. With a tip, we paid him 100t or about $17, shook his hand and said goodbye to Hassan and his parakeet in a cage.
Around the corner, we picked up the bread, a box of string cheese and some chips. Returning to the laundromat, our clothes were finished and by this time, it stopped raining. We walked the three blocks back to the car, loaded things up and set out for a Ramada in Sakarya, about a 90-minute drive from the Istanbul airport. That’s where we’ll drop off the car on Monday. It’s due by 11:30 in the morning.
Along the autobahn, we found a rest stop, pulled out the bag from the mini-mart and our cooler and had lunch.
Then, back on the highway and after about 30 minutes, I felt sleepy and Waynette took over. I managed to catch a nap to Sakarya and Waynette said she had to drive through mountains, rain and cars which passed her at 120 km per hour (about 75 miles per hour) like she was standing still. “What a nightmare,” she said when we reached the Ramada.
With Siri’s help, we found the hotel in this small town and unloaded the car. We have the task now of fitting the new, clean clothes back in our suitcases and prepare to take public transportation in Istanbul.
After placing the luggage in the hotel room, we walked the town and settled on pizza for dinner. That was about the only place open and we shared a 1 liter bottle of Coke. With the soda, pizza and an order of fries, that came to 46.90t or about $8.25 US.
We returned around 8 p.m. and it felt good, at least for one night, to rest for a few hours.
Another travel day on Monday to Istanbul in the morning.
PICTURES – meeting Hassan, images of the laundromat and bakery in Sakarya
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