Tevfikiye (Troy): Varol Pansion
Trip Start
Feb 08, 2008
1
87
125
Trip End
Sep 11, 2009
Canakkale,
Turkish Aegean Coast,
Turkey
Saturday, December 6, 2008
The Varol Pansion is the only pension in Tevfikiye, the farming village adjacent to the World Heritage site of ancient Troy. There is another accommodation, the Hisarlik Hotel/Restaurant, just outside the entrance to the archaeological grounds. While I didn't choose to stay there, I did spend considerable time there as they had wi-fi, or wireless as it is referred to here, and the food was very good. So, when I did have a meal, that's where I had to go. I had, though, only one breakfast there. But it was a beaut!
Also, the owners, brothers, spoke English
The Varol Pansion
. Both had lived in Tevfikiye all their lives, and the one was an author of a fine guide book to Troy. They showed some interest in some of the books I was schlepping around and reading. I got to be a recognized customer. At one day I was given credit when I didn't have enough cash on the moment. And a few times I sat in the office for my computer work, especially when a large tour group (German or Japanese, these days) occupied the front tables by the electrical outlet.It being winter, with few visitors to the area, at the Varol Pansion I was given the full apartment. There are two additional bedrooms within the Varol's personal apartment. After the first day or two of chill, Ismael invited me to move into one of those rooms--and the warmth of their apartment. But, due to some timing issues of my personal habits and wanderings I never got around to moving. I regret that my Turkish is insufficient to explain the subtilties of my idiosyncratic life (its not so easy in English, either); that it wasn't a "snub."
My pay agreement was to rent without the usual breakfast included. But I was later invited to breakfast anyway. Still, as good as it was, I often wanted to start my day much earlier than the Verols, and so would be gone before they arose. Again, I regret not being able to explain--especially when Ismael told me, in effect: "I come to get you for breakfast one day, but you are not here; I come to get you for breakfast on another day, and you are not here
Breakfast at the Hisarlik
. . . ."The apartment was very nice. But it could be cold. The temperature varied, from really chilly to pretty ok. From day to day it all depended on how the winds blew. There were three rooms, a salon/kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom.
The bathroom had a feature that is more familiar in Europe, and ought to become more so in the United States: a water heater at the source of, and on point of demand. In this case it was a small electric unit measuring approximately 12"x9"x5." It provided shower water every bit as warm (hot) as in my apartment in the States. And, incidentally, the toilet also allowed for the stopping of the flush flow when the primary mission was accomplished.
The Varol Pansion is across the street from the Tevfikiye Mosque. So, every morning I was presented, in the darkness, the pre-dawn call to prayer. Which sounded much louder to me than the accompanying partial recording might seem. In truth, I was most often awake when it came, anyway.
Also across the street from my window was the village milk cooperative
Askin Brothers
. (I'm assuming it was a cooperative, in lieu of any other word for it). So, as the sun came up the locals would deliver the morning's offering from the local cows (and perhaps sheep and goats. I don't know). The cans would be brought by whatever means, tractor to wheelbarrow. The contributor and minder would pour the milk into a measuring container, and the amount would be recorded. I just hoped there would be a pasteurization process in its future.On my last morning I did have my fourth delightful breakfast with the Varols'. Then Ismael sat with me at the mini-bus stop across the street from his business and home. As I wrote: Warm memories.
