Blogs from Ankara, Central Anatolia, Turkey, Middle East

I have recently changed roles and the new project requires a lot of interaction between various offices, so I traveled to our office in Ankara, Turkey to meet the team and see how they intend to complete this project. They were sooooo incredibly nice! They definitely spoiled me by taking good care of me for two days. It really reminded me of my old office in Ventura, California and I got a little nostalgic and even homesick. It was quiet and easy paced, and everyone seemed to respect and value each other. Though they work fairly long hours! The office was located in the older downtown area near the embassy, with great views over the city. However, they have a new office that is being completed and will soon move there, out of this area instead. ... read more

Gestern bin ich etwas früher aufgestanden, als vorgestern, was schließlich doch eine gute Idee war. Ich habe auch kürzer gefrühstückt, als am Vortag, da ich nicht wusste, wie lange ich zu meinem Bahnhof brauche. Ich bin nach dem Auschecken wieder zu meiner Tramhaltestelle und habe vorher noch ein paar Euro getauscht und meine Istanbul-Card aufgeladen. Danach bin ich mit der Tram zum alten Bahnhof und in die Mamara-U-Bahn eingestiegen. Die Türkei hat in den vergangen Jahren mit neuem Flughafen in Istanbul, der neuen Bosporusbrücke, den Hochgeschwindigkeitsstrecken, neuer Autobahnen und dem Mamara-Projekt ja einige wichtige Investitionen in die Infrarstruktur getätigt. Ich weiß allerdings nicht, in welchem Ausmaß das kreditfinanziert ist. Von dem Bosporustunnel sieht man in der U-Bahn relativ wenig, da es ja außen dunkel ist, aber man kommt schnell zum Hochgeschwindigkeitsbahnhof von Istan... read more

I bought the plane ticket to Ankara mainly because it was so inexpensive. $40 round-trip direct from Canakkale to Turkey's capital city. Get out of town. I think I pay that much in airport tax back in Florida. I figured I would do a solo recon mission for future reference. That was on the 7th of October. At 10 AM on October 10th Ankara suffered, what its citizens simply refer to as; The Event. Canakkale's airport terminal is a simple, square, pre-fab building. My bag was run through an X-ray machine under the watchful eyes of a dozen blue-uniformed security people because in Turkey, as it is in the States, it's all about the jobs. Inside I found a simple 3-table cafe where I had a glass of tea and a cellophane wrapped biscuit for 4 ... read more

Tuesday 28 July: A very quiet day today. Heather went and bought herself some new togs and about 1030 we headed to the pool for a swim. It was nice and quiet at that time and the pool looked very clean! After lunch we watched a movie / read / did cross-stitch / rested before going for another swim around 3. It was a bit busier then. Zachary continues to gain confidence in the water and in the big pool (140 cm depth) he happily moves around in his swim ring without us needing to be right by him. He is developing quite a strong kick and has no problem propelling himself the width of the pool. The new thing today was that I was lifting him out of the water (in his ring) and then ... read more

The next day we had a long bus ride back to Istanbul via the nation's capital Ankara, where we visit the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. This museum has a collection of ancient artefacts from central turkey from 10000 years ago. Include a Neolithic clay mother goddess, hunting scene on plaster from the 7th millennium BC From the Hittite period there are a series of stone panels of the theme of war with emphasized on soldiers and chariots. The collection includes Greek, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Period artefacts such as statues, jewellery and decorative vessels made of gold, silver, glass, marble, and bronze as well as coins While in Ankara we drove past the tradition 1st May day protesters against the Erdogan government. Luckily we only drove past an assembly points but the police present was still ... read more