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Birds flying over Ayvalik at Sunset, Turkey 2011 |
Sometimes the universe just does all the work for you. I wanted to find a quaint seaside town to take some time out in after all my touring in Turkey. It needed to be an easy distance from Ephesus and a good jumping off point to Greece. A facebook buddy had mentioned Ayvalik when I first arrived in Turkey and it turned out to be exactly the right place for resting, reading and doing some writing as well.
I found Skala Kallonis easily enough and ‘Maria Rent Bicycles’, but that was about the point at which the universe stopped giving and demanded that I start peddling. it turned out that the pretty seaside town was not exactly the place I needed to be. I was told- so far as I could gather- to ride back the way I had just come on the bus and find such and such a place and go past there to another place where I would find Flamingos.
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View from a bike, Lesvos, Greece, 2011 |
I was pretty terrified riding on such main roads, especially as I was still trying to figure out which side of the road I was supposed to stick to. Luckily for me drivers on Lesvos are habituated to scooter riders so the occasional wobbly bicycle is treated patiently.
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Scooters parked in Lesvos, Greece 2011 |
So that was one issue, the other was trying to assimilate the vaguely recalled place names on the map inside my backpack with the signs (in Greek) that I was passing. As such when I came across a sign starting with A I turned happily and hopefully off the main road. It seemed promising and except for the gearless city bike on the rocky rutted road I felt I was on the right track, especially when two or three Herons took flight from the river by my side.
Unfortunately that was the end of bird sightings on that road and before long I got shooed away by some farmers. So with their little dogs yapping at my heals I made my bumpy way back to the main road.
What with the buses, trucks, cars and road works the ride was a little hair raising, but catching sight of salt flats kept me rolling. Speeding down a hill and around a corner I missed a turn off for a road signed with bird pictures and a café. With no chance to turn around I rode on in the ‘just around the next corner’ fashion hoping for a spot to stop. Near the opposite side of the salt flats I saw a bird watching hut and although I was divided from it by a bit of an incline and road works I pulled off and hauled the bike up the gravel hill.
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My trusty stead: bike riding in Lesvos, Greece 2011 |
Pleased to be off the road I took some deep breaths, locked the bike to a nearby rail and went for a stroll. I gave myself an hour or so to wander the edge of the salt flat, figuring I would probably still have time to explore down the alternate road before I had to loop back to Skala Kollonis.
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Salt flats – Flamingo habitat Lesvos, Greece 2011 |
Within about five minutes of walking I found my Flamingos happily squawking away. They were divided from me by a narrow waterway and a strip of land. If the grasses had been lower my view would have been perfect, as it was I had to stand up on a piece of driftwood in order to get a proper look.
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Flamingo kiss, Lesvos Greece |
I do admit to contemplating crossing the narrow waterway for a better look, but decided that even if no one was there to stop me I still did not want to be the Flamingo rover responsible for disturbing the Flamingo habitat.
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Salt flats – Flamingo habitat Lesvos, Greece 2011 |
Besides which this was closer than I had gotten on any of my previous expeditions.
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