Last weekend, I participated in the Bozcaada Run, which has become a tradition for me. I’d like to share the story of this run, which I enjoy every year.
I’ve participated in the Bozcaada Run three times in previous years, and this year was my fourth. I’ve written two articles about it before. I’d like to share the relevant links as a reminder:
http://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/bozcaada-maratonu-2013
http://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/kosudan-otesi
The atmosphere this time around was even warmer than in previous years. The confidence of getting to know the island, the places I’d visited and gotten to know, the people I’d met, the TIDER volunteers, and friends from Adım Adım and other circles made me feel completely at home.
Last Friday morning, after finishing urgent work at our Maltepe office, we set off around 11:30 a.m. Two of my TIDER volunteer friends accompanied me. From Maltepe, we drove to İzmit Gulf and then crossed over the Osmangazi Bridge. We headed to Çanakkale on a very comfortable highway, avoiding Bursa. We stopped in Karacabey and had lunch at Tavacı Refik. My friend recommended this restaurant and said it was one of the most popular spots for breaks, thanks to its lakeside location. It turned out to be a truly beautiful place, and the food was fantastic.
Extra-trip panic!
A few phone calls while I was at the restaurant forced me to get back to work. I asked one of my friends traveling with me to take over the steering wheel. As we drove from Karacabey to Çanakkale, I spent two hours handling errands in the backseat. When I arrived in Çanakkale, I took the wheel again and drove all the way to Bozcaada. We arrived at the Geyikli pier around 5:30 PM. We lined up our car and, assuming the next ferry would depart at 7:00 PM, we sat in the tea garden on the pier. Just as I was getting my tray of Turkish coffee and tea, I noticed one of my friends had disappeared. My other friend was standing up, staring at me in panic. When I finally realized the bus in front of us was heading towards the ferry, I placed my tray on the table, grabbed the biscuits from the tray, my friend grabbed the water, and we immediately headed back to the car. My other friend was already behind the wheel. When I saw him moving, I signaled, “You go to the ferry, we’ll walk.” We walked to the ferry. When we got back up on the ferry, we had Turkish coffee and tea again, and in a way, we fulfilled our lingering desires by enjoying the view. When we investigated the cause of the confusion, we learned that although the ferry normally departs at 7:00 PM, an additional departure was scheduled for 6:00 PM. This left us all in a difficult position. When we arrived on the island, the roads were closed. So, we managed to reach the other side of the castle through the back streets and then arrived at the hotel.
A strange coincidence!
Incidentally, an interesting coincidence occurred. Our friends staying at the Ege Hotel had previously exchanged messages with each other about staying there. When I asked my assistant, Oylum Hanım, about available hotels on Bozcaada to arrange my own, she compiled a list of seven or eight, and based on price and quality, the Ege Hotel was my top choice. Thus, my two friends who came with me and two other TIDER volunteers happened to be staying at the same hotel. The Ege Hotel was a charming establishment; a former Greek primary school converted into a hotel. It wasn’t luxurious; the rooms and bathrooms were small, and the breakfast wasn’t particularly tasty or varied, but the hotel had a spirit. That’s why I liked it.
Entrance of the Ege Hotel
For example, to reinforce this spirit, they dedicated each room to a prominent writer or poet and placed a quote from their poem or writing on each door. I stayed in the Oğuz Atay room. Here are three of my favorite door inscriptions:
It’s not the locals who embrace it, it’s the Istanbulites.
This spirit, of course, was created by Ümit Turan, the hotel’s manager. I had the opportunity to chat with him at length during my stay. Mr. Ümit is a very knowledgeable and insightful individual. He’s originally from Üsküdar, Istanbul. He shared a wealth of information about the island and the history of his hotel. I’d like to share the most interesting of these with you:
“Those from Istanbul are the ones who cherish the island’s fabric and historical structure the most. Unfortunately, because the Turkish population, who are native to this region, lack culture, they don’t care about vital issues like potential misconstruction or sea pollution. Unfortunately, the locals are primarily concerned with lining their own pockets. Those who fled Istanbul are fighting to prevent a repeat of what happened to them in their city.”
After settling into the hotel, we showered and got ready, and headed to Kuzina Restaurant for dinner. Our volunteers gradually began arriving at our restaurant. As the ferries docked, our volunteers increased in number and joined us. Around 10:00 PM, the entire crew was ready. The food, especially the fish, was delicious. The staff was friendly.
A fake sea bream meal
Only one mishap occurred that night. We’d ordered sea bream. An hour after the appetizers arrived, I started asking, “Where’s the fish?” I must have asked five times in two hours. At one point, I even joked, “Haven’t you caught the fish yet?” Finally, I couldn’t resist, I asked, “Did you give our fish to another table?” They replied, “Unfortunately, yes.” They apologized profusely. Our fish (they cooked a new sea bream when they realized the situation) didn’t arrive until around 11:00 PM. It was exactly what I predicted from the beginning. It’s usually what happens to me. I was a little annoyed that they kept beating around the bush from the start. The servers were a bit panicked. So, we just said, “No problem, these things happen,” and continued to enjoy the evening. Despite this unpleasantness, I can recommend the Kuzina restaurant in Bozcaada, as it’s common knowledge that such mishaps can happen occasionally. If you’re ever in the area, you can visit.
We overlooked the 10 K run the next day and enjoyed the fun a bit too much. Saturday morning, we woke up early, took a walk with friends to refresh ourselves, and after breakfast, I had a bit of a rest. Afterward, I showered, got ready, and left the hotel. Everyone was warming up together in the area, accompanied by music. I was trying not to tire myself out after having so much fun the night before. A good breakfast and a short nap had given me a bit of a break. Just before the run, we took the following photos with our volunteers:
…And it’s time for exercise!
The run started at 11:30. We were late lining up, so we found ourselves a spot in the back row. That was fine, because I’d already planned a slow start to work up a sweat. Over the first 2 kilometers, I slowly passed those ahead of me and started moving towards the front. My pace was slower than my average. After the second kilometer, I started to pick up speed. The sweat had brought me back to my senses. I got faster. Bozcaada, the most challenging of road runs, has a lot of uphill runs. You’ll retrace your steps on the course. On the way back, I saw our TIDER volunteers and greeted them, saying, “Hello, TIDERians.” As we finished the hilly first 5 kilometers and started descending, I picked up my pace. Despite the rising temperature, I managed to speed up. I even continued to pass those ahead of me on the long, steep climb of the last 2 kilometers. At one point, a runner I passed behind me applauded, saying, “Bravo! Your pace is great.” I turned around and smiled, saying, “Thank you.” This was a beautiful gesture reflecting true athleticism. Applauding and encouraging one another is an approach that truly reflects the essence of sports. I sprinted hard in the last 300 meters and saw the finish line. I finished the 10 K in 48 minutes. Despite the challenging uphill slopes, 48 minutes is a good time in Bozcaada. I placed 51st out of 2,728 runners. I also placed 7th in my age group. Achieving this ranking without any training, especially with my recent busy work schedule and moving, and despite the fun I had the night before, was a remarkable achievement for me. We even joked about it among our friends: It turns out that the more fun I have the night before a run, the better my running will be the next day. 🙂
Detailed information about my degree
A strange case of aggression
Finishing the race in first place, 51st, saved me some time. There was only one problem. I couldn’t see anyone I knew among our volunteers. I waited for half an hour for the other friends to arrive. Meanwhile, I ate the banana and granola provided after the run and drank plenty of water. The founder of the granola company even turned out to be familiar. We chatted with him and the others from Adım Adım. That was the first time I witnessed someone yelling and attacking anyone in such a beautiful setting. He was acting like he was crazy. This big guy, behaving strangely, went so far as to climb up to the presenters on the upper panel and try to push one of them off. Seeing this, I acted. I was determined to intervene. At that moment, the big guy jumped down. One of the Adım Adım coaches was there, and he even grabbed the column of the platform that was about to collapse, preventing it from toppling over. Someone in the crowd caught the person who was causing the disturbance and handed him over to the police. I didn’t have to do anything. It was frustrating to see someone acting crazy (no one understood why) and lashing out in such a setting. However, everyone quickly recovered and continued to enjoy the event.
Our volunteers also began arriving. Everyone began gathering under the plane tree in the square. After mastic Turkish coffee, we returned to the hotel and got ready. Then, we headed out together to the relatively quiet beach at Ayazma. Our friends had organized a picnic basket in advance. We enjoyed food and drinks on the beach. In the beautiful weather, we were at the beach until 6:00 PM, swimming and chatting. Thus, I opened the swimming season on Bozcaada.
Even though I enjoy the beach, I can sometimes get sidetracked by work-related matters.
We returned to the hotel, got ready, and went to Gümüş Restaurant for dinner. The food was okay. The service was poor. The owner was friendly and nice. However, I’m not sure I’d go back. There were 12 volunteers at the table, plus me. At one point, they asked me, “Would you tell me about the association’s developments?” I said, “Of course, with pleasure,” and began. I explained everything about the association for about half an hour. I explained our priorities, our challenges, and our plans.
Music and jokes from a Greek woman
The conversation continued afterward. We enjoyed dinner. After dinner, I bought ice cream from the ice cream parlor on the corner. The honey almond and mastic ice cream were very good. I recommend Ada ice cream parlor. Afterward, we went to a coffeehouse in the back. It was a very interesting place. The owner was a woman of Far Eastern descent. There was one other table beside us. A woman at that table, who we understood to be of Greek origin, asked, “Would you like to dance if we played some music?” Our volunteers, some of Balkan descent, immediately responded, “Of course we can.” The young man next to the woman who asked the question pulled out his oud and began playing. Naturally, everyone was genetically motivated. Our friends from Balkan descent and Balıkesir stood up and started dancing. After an hour of coffee and dancing, we paid the bill and left. As we were about to leave, the woman of Greek descent teased me playfully. The following exchange took place:
- How many girls are there at your table?
- 12
- People can barely find one girl, man, where did you find 12? (Everyone started laughing when I said this)
- Let’s call it luck (I wanted to provoke the woman even more with this answer.)
- What luck, man, there’s something going on here.
At this point, one of our outgoing volunteers at the table intervened and escalated the situation:
- We’re his disciples. There are other disciples who aren’t here.
- My God, I’m another year older. Those were the days, my friend, we’d thought they’d never end!
So, in an effort to salvage the situation, I started talking again:
- No, ma’am, our friends are joking. This is an association, and these friends are our volunteers.
- Anyways…
Joking aside, I consider all the volunteers in our association my brothers and sisters, and each one of them is personally valuable to me. Because in these times when humanity is going through a serious test, I hold everyone who contributes without expecting anything in return.
Meanwhile, we discussed among ourselves why our male volunteers were significantly outnumbered by our female volunteers. The conclusion was this: Our association, TIDER, meets people’s basic needs, such as being fed, being cleaned, and being able to put on clothes. This fosters a sense of nurturing. This, in turn, leads to women being more sensitive and supporting us more wholeheartedly. One of our volunteers even described this by using another association as an example: “For example, AKUT has more male volunteers. Even though the General Secretary is a woman (we love her very much), AKUT ‘s mission requires men to volunteer there more often.” After coffee, we went to Polente, a popular spot on Bozcaada. The place is nice, the people are nice, the weather is beautiful. We were in a good mood. There, we ran into our friends from Adım Adım again. We chatted for a while. After some chit-chat and dancing, we decided to go somewhere else. Because Polente always plays techno in the same rhythm, the music soon becomes a bit of a distraction. So, we all got up and went to a beachside venue called Salhane, near our hotel, which played classics from the ’80s and ’90s. Although the outdoor entertainment had ended by the time we arrived, we sat by the beach and enjoyed the indoor music for a while longer. Afterward, everyone dispersed to their hotels.
We witnessed this wonderful view from Salhane: a full moon over Bozcaada Castle.
A malfunctioning push-button waiter call system.
The next day, we had breakfast around 8:30, packed up, and left the hotel around 9:30.
A photo we took after leaving the hotel. When I shared it on social media, a friend from elementary school teased me, “Are you the lord of Bozcaada?”
Thanks to the extra departure times, we were once again able to catch the 10:00 ferry. This time, we decided to take a different route. We chose the Çanakkale-Tekirdağ-Istanbul (European Side) route.
A photo taken from the ferry we boarded in Bozcaada. Bozcaada Castle is in the background.
Since our friend in the car, a Bulgarian immigrant, was from Keşan, we took his advice and stopped at Kavaklık Restaurant along the way. I must say we lingered a bit too long there. We enjoyed Thracian classics like döner kebab, cleaver meat, and cheese dessert. Kavaklık Restaurant had implemented the “press the button, the waiter will come” system I always recommend. I liked it. I told the waiter I’d try it. Towards the end of the meal, I pressed the button, but no one came. Five minutes later, we pressed it again, and still no one came. After 10 minutes, I got up and went inside the garden and called the waiter. I asked why the system wasn’t working. It turned out that the electronic panel that indicated the request was unplugged. It was truly a Turkish innovation! The system existed, but they weren’t using it because it wasn’t plugged in. I plugged it in, and after a few tries, we finally tested its functionality. After coffee, we got up and headed back to Istanbul.
Push-button waiter call system
The push-button waiter call system panel
The Unplanned Invasion of Bahçeşehir
We traveled approximately six hours and then returned in nine. This was largely due to a two-hour stop at Kavaklık Restaurant and a two-hour drive from Bahçeşehir to the city center. It was heartbreaking to see the state of Bahçeşehir, a city built by our family business, in which it had fallen. Süzer Holding built the first phase of houses, which weren’t multi-story on the hill and were lost amongst the trees. We planned and implemented the most beautiful part of Bahçeşehir, the pond, the natural gas infrastructure (Bahçeşehir residents were the first to use natural gas in Türkiye because we planned the city and included the natural gas pipeline in the plan), and all the elements that make Bahçeşehir what it is (Bahçeşehir University, restaurants, shopping mall, etc.), with our partners. 17,000 residences were built and sold, but when the project became popular, all the construction companies rushed to the site, buying up surrounding land and launching numerous real estate projects. Unfortunately, the surrounding area has been filled with ugly reinforced concrete buildings. After all these unplanned actions and the virtual plundering of the region, even the highway can no longer support the resulting population density. Ultimately, I left my friends in the car somewhere near their homes and arrived home, exhausted. I had reached the end of another enjoyable journey. As I conclude, I’d like to share some tips about Bozcaada. These tips were developed based on my own experiences or those of my friends:
The most comfortable route:
Istanbul – Osmangazi Bridge – Bursa – Çanakkale – Geyikli Pier
The best roadside restaurants:
Tavacı Refik, Kavaklık, Çamlıbel, Özen
Hotels I recommend:
Kaikias, Bademlik, Kalais, 9 Oda, Alicante, Evreka, Ege Hotel
Restaurants:
Kuzina, Maya, Rengigül Konukevi (especially for breakfast), Asmalı Meyhane, Insulares, Sandal
Cafes:
Çiçek, Polente, Oda, Ada Dondurmacisi
Nighttime Entertainment:
Salhane, Bakkal, Polente
For more details, please visit http://www.bozcaadarehberi.com.
I wish a very enjoyable island adventure for those who plan to visit Bozcaada …
Tags: health
