41°N 37°E Kaynarpınar - Ordu

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4.0 km (2.5 miles) SSW of Kaynarpınar, ORDU

Confluence 41N 37E

North

East

Souht

West

 

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Ynt: 41°N 37°E Kaynarpınar - Ordu

After the successful visits of 41N 34E and 41N 35E, my second "double point", I wanted to try to visit 3 points on the same day, but it darkened early and it became difficult to drive to 41N 36E. A search for 41N 36E on gravel roads was futile.

Therefore, I decided to return to Kavak and do the point the following day. Indeed, after a prolonged search it turned out that there was no possibility for an overnight stay in Kavak. Hotels can only be found in the bathing resort of Havza, or in Samsun. Because I didn't want to return, I decided to drive on to Samsun, and to tackle the point 41N 37E first, and the point 41N 36E later when returning to Istanbul.

On the occasion of the Sugar Festival, there was a big hullaballoo in Samsun and I had to look around for a while before I could find the Teachers' House. Teachers' Houses are a wonderful invention in Turkey. They are like hotels where teachers can stay overnight very favourably. The whole city was a single big festival. I did my share of shopping, too, and tasted the treats of the Sugar Festival copiously.

The next morning, I set out early, visited some interesting caves in the vicinity, and continued towards my next confluence point. While being on the main road, which is being worked up at the moment, I refuelled. As well as at the petrol station as when asking people for the way, I always was made a present of chocolate. When I asked for the way another time, the people asked me to wait for a moment and take a friend of theirs with me. While driving, I told this man about the confluence points, and he immediately offered to assist me during my search. But he wanted to take another friend along and this would be problematic with my car because it is so low, and it would always have hit the ground and put the continuation of one's journey at risk.

I pulled off the main road to the right into the mountains. There I strayed for half a day because I only own a rather imprecise map of Turkey, and the terrain is very mountainous. I approached the point to 4 km, but looking out from a height, I saw that the point lay at least one valley further. Thus, I had to search for minor unpaved roads leading into the next valleys. Even being alone in the car, it hit the ground again and again. The people that I met were all very friendly, and on the occasion of the Sugar Festival, many people were out taking a walk.

Finally, I found a way two valleys further, which led up on a hill exactly in the direction of the confluence point. I parked my car 400 m from the point and descended the hill on foot. While everything was covered with thick shrub before, fortunately there was a large hazelnut grove here, which allowed easy going. Crossing a small river was more problematic. On the other side of the valley, the point was located in a cabbage field in front of two old farmhouses. When I took my photographs, two men came out of the house and descended towards me after I waved to them. I explained to them that a confluence point is located here, and at once, they were very fascinated.

After having taken photos together with them, they invited me into their house. These wooden houses plastered with cow dung are incredibly cosy inside. We sat on cushions on the living room's floor, and the women brought a delicious meal. Everybody took a spoon and altogether we ate out of 10 different bowls. All offered meals had been cultivated by themselves. After the meal, we reposed on divans, drank tea and chatted a long time. The youngest son brought a quite old and already very torn atlas, but the latitude and longitude lines were only indicated in steps of ten. They phoned some friends with their mobile and I had to explain the GPS receiver and the Degree Confluence Project to them, too.

It was really gorgeous, but after a couple of hours I had to say goodbye because I still had to drive to the point 41N 36E. Naim accompanied me up the hill on a small path to my car, and we parted after having exchanged the telephone numbers. Thank you very much for your sensational hospitality. (GK)

Harald Waldvogel - Murat Tunç - Naim Güler
14-Nov-2004