Blogs from Ankara, Central Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East
Ankara, couch surfing with [i]du u think[/i] 15-17 Sept
Published: September 25th 2011Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Ankara
September 15th 2011
Thursday, 15th Sept - early morning flight Istanbul to Ankara Due to the fact that Istanbul is very expensive and the fact we are flying out of here and will have to come back here, I made the executive decision to spend the night at the airport after our midnight arrival flight and catch a 7.30am flight from Istanbul to Ankara. Also the fact that this airport is so far out of Istanbul that it would have cost us more to catch a taxi to the city at this time of night, than waiting and flying out in the morning. This of course all went bum up when Air Arabia cancelled and changed our flight date which meant we lost the original internal flight I booked and had to rebook one for the changed date. But ... read more
Bored and sick in Ankara
Published: September 11th 2011Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Ankara
September 9th 2011
I'm not a big fan of Ankara so this is going to be a quick post. Well, I suppose it is not entirely Ankara's fault. As soon as I dropped off my visa application I went back to my hotel, and pretty much immediately I felt sick, and I was hit with a strong bout of the runs. I felt really terrible and I quickly came down with shivers and a fever as well. I popped a loperamide and climbed into bed in the hopes of feeling better. My guess is the food in Erzurum bus station did it, but it might have just been a flare up from my first being sick in Istanbul. Even after when I woke up I still felt pretty nauseous. I tried to eat some yogurt and drank some Fanta, ... read more
The race for the Indian visa
Published: September 6th 2011Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Ankara
September 5th 2011
So, the next major hurdle on my trip is that I need an Indian tourist visa to be allowed into India. I had tried to do this in America, but conveniently, you need to prove residency, so I couldn't get a visa in NY since I was an Indiana resident at the time. You needed to give a bill or something showing residency. I should have just tried anyway. It would have eliminated this saga. So this saga begins in Dogubayuzit - having just said goodbye to Didier, I boarded my bus for Erzurum a little after 1pm (1:12 or something I think). Not too late to start. So we start driving for a bit, and then we pull over. At first I thought that we had stopped to pick up people, but no one was ... read more
July 3rd 2011
Today was the last full day in Ankara, Turkey. We’ve had several days of lectures learning everything about the Turkish economy, history, art, and language. We’ve had several free evenings to explore our little section of Ankara, and we’ve also had a couple formal dinners with the U.S. Embassy Counselor for Public Affairs and with the Director of the Turkish Fulbright Commission. Today was really special though. We visited a local Women’s Center, whose mission is to help women, especially housewives, build a stronger self-identity. We met the Director of the Center, Sati, and she told us her story along with the stories of several other women whom we met. Then, they had a gentleman come in with his baglama, a six-stringed instrument, and he played several songs with one of the women singing along. This ... read more
Last Offical day on the Tour :(
Published: June 28th 2011Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Ankara
June 18th 2011
We left Cappadocia at 6:00 am on Saturday morning and I was hoping to see the hot air balloons that fill the sky in the early morning there. If you don’t book early it is hard to get on one as they are almost always full when they go up. Supposedly the views are amazing and one day I would love to do it, but at around 150 Euros is was just not in my budget. I looked up as we got on the bus but since it was very cloudy and sadly there weren’t any balloons out, which is good for the people who have booked them since the views of the landscape and sunrise are not the best, but bad for me since I really wanted to take in the awe of seeing the ... read more
May 30th 2011
Drove to Ankara, capital of the new republic from 1923. Visited the tomb of Kemal Attaturk, father of the republic and still much loved and respected. Also he was the leader of the Turkish troops that held back the Anzacs at Gallipoli. Great museum with realistic scenes of the Gallipoli campaign and the Independence war with Greece.... read more
April 27th 2011
Ankara – Turkey’s Capital Somehow Easter passed us by here in Turkey, not really being aware of the days and there being no Easter eggs staring you in the face, but there was no forgetting ANZAC day. We had discovered during dinner the night before that there were many Aussies saying in our hotel. They had already visited Gallipoli and when we came down to breakfast, they were wearing Anzac t-shirts and wearing red poppies. Chris had bought red poppies and pins from Melbourne and gave them out to the group. It is fantastic we are all Australian – Michelle & Ken from Qld. Lee & Greg (father & daughter) from Melbourne & Anne from Tas…. a very well travelled lady. We set off early for the Mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s hero and father. Before ... read more
Cappadocia Region to Ankara
Published: April 18th 2011Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » AnkaraApril 18th 2011
After the adventures of the past few days in the Cappadocia region today was really a travel day to get us to Ankara. It was Chris’ birthday today and what a great place to spend it. Travelling in Turkey has been just as we expected and to celebrate a birthday in Ankara just tops it off. The day started out cloudy but soon turned into drizzle, then rain. We passed more open plains with grain crops well advanced and shepherds looking after their sheep. Men were ploughing fields either with tractors or horse and women digging smaller plots by shovel. Everyone comments how men seem to be everywhere, drinking coffee or tea, smoking, and talking around tables outside coffee shops. Where are the women? We assume at home working. The highway for most of the way ... read more
December 5th 2010
After picking up my very heavy bags, I jumped on the bus, but not before helping and old man with his luggage, who thought I was trying to steal them at first, he came to understand I am a nice guy when he made sure I dropped the bags in the bus and didn’t take off with them. The good thing about Antakya, is that you can buy a bus ticket to almost anywhere in Turkey, most important Istanbul and Ankara, lots of bus companies have offices at the station waiting for customers, which is something Antakya is never short of, there for working as a hub connecting all arrivals from the neighboring countries south of Turkey Knowing the trip is going to take just a bit more than 8 hours made me depressed, though it ... read more
Cyprus to England Part 4
Published: October 31st 2010Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » AnkaraOctober 31st 2010
FRIDAY 8 OCTOBER Alarm set for 0700 hrs Up to breakfast, the miserable lad was on. çay, cheese, olives, bread and jam. Took our stuff out to the car. Then paid our bill. The evening meal had been included in the rate along with breakfast, so I only had a further 6YTL to pay for the 2 diet cokes. Car mileage 30059 (-29392) 667 miles so far The hotel sign said 8 October 0818 hrs and 6°C, as we departed, with Pat driving. As we drove along the D770 there were communities along the roadside in the distance. Clumps of houses, but they did not appear to have any gardens or even apparent boundary defining territory around the property. Also, no vegetable plots, which we would have expected, maintaining self sufficiency in such a rural area. ... read more
