TRAVEL FEATURE - TURKEY
GUILLERMO MAC LEAN
THE DOGS ANGEL
It was a Sunday , and I had an important appointment with my dear friend Mustafa , whom I met in " another life " more than ten years ago and who ’ d invited me to spend some time in a beautiful house he has in a Greek village nestled in Turkish territory called Çakmakli , forty-five minutes from Izmir .
I left the city of Kas on the Mediterranean coast and headed straight to Çakmakli , a distance of 494 kilometres , on the Aliaga peninsula , mistakenly arriving at a beach in a neighbouring village , believing that this was the one Mustafa had told me about . All due to a GPS error after crossing the industrial zone .
It was midday , the sun was intense , and the temperature was pleasant for a Sunday in October . Earlier , I ’ d been riding around the village of Yeni Foça , where I ’ d stopped to walk near the sea and meet local fisher men .
This village was beautiful , with a great harbour and nice restaurants in front .
After my little tour , I hit the road to the meeting point and parked the bike next to a bench to rest on a wooden picnic table whilst looking at the sky . In the small bay a huge ship anchored , a gas refining vessel , which surprised me by the complexity of its conformation .
After half an hour my friend arrived in his truck , with a matter of fact smile on his face and his crooked glasses . We embraced effusively and he made me follow him to the house , a large stone chalet , with four fireplaces , three bedrooms , and a beautiful and spacious garden with an olive plantation of over one hundred trees in the background . Here I settled for a few weeks , a place where I was able to work with steel , making tables and sculptures .
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