Egirdir is home to an elite training center for mountain commandos. On weekends the base turns the soldiers loose and the streets are filled with young men walking arm-in-arm with their visiting mothers while their fathers and siblings tag along.
Restaurants offer discounts to the soldiers, who also take over Charly’s Pansiyon, turning it into a lake-view internet cafe. As I left for lunch today one of them was Facebook chatting with his girlfriend back home.