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Published: August 4th 2013
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CAPPADOCIA TO ANKARA, TURKEY—Monday, May 13, 2013
Altinyazi Hotel, Avanos, Cappadocia Region
At 6:15 we watched the balloons again this morning. Today they went up and most stayed very low and then came toward town and the hotel much closer than yesterday. There were about 50 in the air at one time. Valerie got better pictures this morning as it was a little clearer. We heard at breakfast that someone from another tour group staying at this hotel got hurt when a balloon hit a house. They did look low enough to do so.
As we were boarding the bus a group came back toting their very muddy, grassy shoes in their hands--guess they had to get out in a muddy, wet field after their ride. (On a sad note, while in Istanbul, we learned that two balloons at this location this week, had collided spilling and killing 3 tourists from Brazil and injuring 21 others).
Today is just a “ride the bus all day” with stops for “comfort breaks” every couple of hours or so and lunch, as we plan to be in Ankara by mid-afternoon. Ankara is the Capitol of Turkey so
Aykut proceeded to inform us about the government and some of the politics of his country. He was especially entertaining when he told us of his military service and how he had the misfortune to be assigned as the front guard/receptionist at the female nurses’ dormitory.
The Ottoman Empire ended after WWI as Turkey had allied itself with the losing team and so some of the country was occupied by the Allies in the aftermath of war. This brought about a Nationalist movement under the leadership of
Mustafa Kemal, a military commander who had distinguished himself during the Battle of Gallipoli.
The War of Independence was fought and on September 18, 1922, the occupying armies were expelled. The Sultanate was abolished ending 623 years of Ottoman rule and in 1923, the "Republic of Turkey" was recognized with the new capital moved to Ankara. Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first President and introduced many radical (for them) reforms. Among those were full rights for women politically and in education and a new writing system based upon the Latin alphabet. Mustafa Kemal was given the honorific surname "Atatürk" (
Father of the Turks) in 1934 and pictures and statues of him, much
like Washington and Lincoln’s in the USA, are seen all over Turkey.
Aykut explained that there are 25 political parties, and you vote for the party, not the candidate. A new Parliament is chosen every 5 years and the President chosen by the Parliament, every 7 years.
On the drive to Ankara, most of the trip was driving in the fertile valleys with snow-capped mountains to the left of us. Closer to Ankara, we passed a large salt lake that was being used to produce salt. Looking for birds along the edges with my binoculars, I spotted a huge flock of flamingos at the end of the lake. They were way too far away to get any pictures especially since it was raining again.
Lunch today was a delicious lamb soup that was made better by a squeeze of lemon. We have noted that lemon slices are given out with all bowls of soup for you to add juice. Seemed odd, but tastes good. A basket of bread also goes along with the soup.
Ankara has 23 million people living here and is a very modern city perched on the hills and in the valley. We
drove by the President’s and Prime Minister’s home but all you could see from the bus windows were walls and gated guarded entries. Also, saw several nearby embassies. Neither of us could spot the American Embassy when Aykut mentioned it, as it was up on top as we went under the road in a tunnel.
The KentHotel was located right downtown near a very nice park with statues and gardens. I went to our hotel room and chilled until dinner time. Valerie walked around to try and change some money, buy diet cokes, and look at what she could see. It reminded her of the capital city of Moldova, Chisnau. The NationalMuseum, which is what one sees here, is under restoration and all but one floor is closed.
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