Episode 3: In which they narrowly avoid The Passion

Location: Gölbaşı
Date: 23.05.06

About the time we realised we were driving in the darkness, we decided to stop and look for a place to lay our heads.  Conveniently, the town of Gölbaşı was there to assist..  A unlikely looking place with simply "Otel" on the sign above the door turned out to be one of the best customer service experiences I've ever had. 

After approving the rooms, we were seated and given the traditional offer of tea and coffee.  I was never entirely sure who worked there and who was a resident or friend, but everybody was watching "The Island", which unfortunately (for us) was dubbed in Turkish.  We took turns having showers and trying to converse with the help of a phrase book and small English-Turkish dictionary.  It was late by the time I got to use the only shower in the place, and we were a little concerned about finding anywhere to eat.  Luckily the receptionist had just had his dinner delivered, and offered to arrange the same thing for us.  After we chose pizza and köfte (meatballs), the delivery boy disappeared and returned with very reasonable and reasonably priced food, which we ate whilst trying to determine exactly what Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson were up to.

The receptionist asked if we wanted him to go out and find an English language DVD (or more likely, VCD) so we would understand what was going on.  We tried to decline, but he insisted.  We told him any genre was fine, but preferably something lighter like action or comedy.  He returned with a rather excited "Mel Gibson, Mel Gibson!"  Curious, I examined the proffered disc.

The.  Passion.  Of.  The.  Christ.

Jesus.  Literally.

What was that movie even doing in central, conservative, Islamic Turkey?!  I guess Mel is more pervasive than I gave him credit for.

Thankfully, Elvira was extremely quick with her democratic refusal – she managed to get across the fact that it was a very long movie, and it was late already.

The receptionist was so lovely that he ran out, against our protests, to get us another movie.  He returned with Doom (a Karl Urban and The Rock film I didn't even know existed) and Sin City.  We decided on Sin City, even though that's probably just as long as The Passion.  When it turned out to also be dubbed in Turkish, we took our leave as politely as we could.

In the morning, we were given breakfast (although that wasn't supposed to be provided) and of course more tea and coffee.  They even high-pressure hosed our car for us before we left and got all those bugs off the windscreen.

For about 4 pounds each, I think we got a pretty good deal.