Good thing Max is small!

It was definitely a good move to come down to the coast. It's not warm by any means, but it's comfortable. At least we haven't had to put the furnace on! We had spent Tuesday night in Kozlu, which is a western suburb of Zonguldak.

We felt comfortable leaving Max alone, so we went for a walk back towards Zonguldak before leaving the area and heading further west towards Istanbul.

It was a decent morning... mostly cloudy with a few sunny breaks.

The Black Sea.

Lots of apartment buildings.

Really nice walking path.

There are always lots of picnic spots.

The bay at Kozlu.

Manmade waterfall.

Looking towards Zonguldak.

We did about 7 kms (4.5 miles) so at least we got some exercise and fresh air. Back at Max, we had an early lunch and then packed up and headed further west.

We didn't get very far though. 

I had read about a cave on the outskirts of the city of Ereğli (pop 121,000) which was located about 45 kms (28 miles) away. So we headed there.

Scenery along the way.

We're driving along and the road was four lanes with a fair bit of traffic. I had seen an alternative route that went through some small villages, but I had no plans on taking that route so I hadn't researched it at all. Well, we got to the turn off, and for whatever reason I decided at the last minute to take that alternative route. 

I always put a lot of planning into the routes that we take. The problems here are similar to those in much of Mexico and Europe... a lot of villages are not made for larger vehicles. 

Good thing Max is small!

The road was not in good shape. But the first village we went through was no real problem, so we kept going. Opportunities to turn around were not many to begin with!

We passed the occasional person who stared at us as we were going through. I'm sure they were thinking "these people must be lost!"

Ruth took a video of one section for you...

I was definitely a little nervous because we have been in villages where the only vehicles that can get through are cars. There were some tight corners, but Max made it through unscathed! Good thing nobody was coming the other way though. Still, the experience served as a good reminder to me.

We arrived at the caves parking lot and asked the security guy if we could stay overnight. No problem there, but it had turned into a nice afternoon so we decided to go for a walk along the waterfront in Ereğli and visit the caves in the morning.

Ereğli waterfront.

They have done a great job with the waterfront park.

Lots of flowers.

The tulips are in bloom.

Lots of people out enjoying the day.

So glad we didn't stay in the mountains!

They have an interesting way of getting the small boats out of the water.

The waterfront park runs for 2.5 kms each way.

Ereğli, Turkiye.

We could stay here another day just to walk the park again. In fact, we might do that before we leave this morning after we have seen the caves. But, we have to do some driving  today. We want to be in Istanbul tomorrow and it's still 300 kms (180 miles) or so away.

Yesterday's drive 45 kms (28 miles).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4 Pack of Solar Motion Sensor Lights. On sale, plus there is a 30% off coupon showing on the product page.

And in Canada...

Echo Dot Smart Speaker.