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September At Uzungöl

Now’s the time for an Uzungöl vacation. No rain, no crowds, a taste of honey…

We went in spring. A festival of flowers and creepy crawly things. No sign of winter’s snows. As Uzungöl native Faruk Bey put it: “It’s good you came now. If you’d waited till July or August, you’d have encountered the summer crowds and sudden downpours.” Then he adds, “One suggestion: come to Uzungöl in the fall. The crowds will have gone, the rains will have died down, and we’ll be extracting the honey fresh from the honeycomb.”

Now it’s September. Time to steer our course towards the Black Sea, Uzungöl in particular. A slightly arduous journey is in store, but it’s worth it. You’ll approach Uzungöl down roads  where the houses, scattered at random as if fallen from the sky, are barely visible behind a thick line of trees. So, now your eyes have adapted to the green. Wait till you see the blue!

GET YOUR SHOTS, THEN HEAD FOR THE TABLE!
In the next five minutes you’re going to shake off your weariness and start to feel hungry. But waiting for dinner is a piece of cake. As the sun sets over the lake, you’ll watch the play of light and rush to record it all, forgetting everything, your hunger, even the person you came with… Get your shots and head for the table!

Here’s what awaits you: ‘mıhlama’ or ‘kuymak’ (string cheese fried in butter with corn flour), ‘hamsili kaygana’ (anchovy omelette), trout baked on a clay tile, braised pickles, stuffed cabbage and country rice pudding. Consume them slowly, savoring every morsel, and let the fiddlers and folk dancers sweep you along so that you tire early and hit the hay. How will you sleep, you ask? Oh come on…

DON’T FORGET THE HONEY!
You will only understand this when you wake up to the cool of morning. Morning, the best time on the lake. What to do? Go for a hike? Daydream? Head down for breakfast? It’s up to you. Let’s say you’ve had breakfast, watching the antics of the lake’s madcap wild ducks. It’ll be one glass of tea, then another, and another…

Do you really think you could get bored? No way! Rent a bike, take a nature walk, try paragliding, make a jeep safari… these are just a few of the things you can do.
Uzungöl will get mistier and mistier as the day progresses. More and more mesmerizing, in other words. Just like in that film, Göl Evi (Lake House)… No doubt about it, you are going to be captivated. But don’t forget that it’s September and just the time to pick up some honey!