ANKARA TO BURSA, TURKEY—Tuesday, May 14, 2013

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ANKARA TO BURSA, TURKEY—Tuesday, May 14, 2013

KentHotel, Ankara, Turkey

It continued raining off and on today as we left the city of Ankara. We spent a lot of time in traffic this morning working our way out of the downtown area and into the countryside passing newish apartment buildings, government buildings, shopping malls, hospitals, businesses, a major university, and many, many, mosques---the usual, in sprawling suburbs.

King Midas’ Tomb

After driving about 50 miles, we drove into a small community in the middle of nowhere to tour a museum and to visit a tomb purported to be of King Midas. King Midas was a real person or persons (there may have been three different Kings named Midas) and lots of myths and legends surround him. In this area there are several large mounds of dirt covering tombs, which are called tumuli. It reminded us of the mound builders in the Eastern and Southern parts of the US.

Around where the ancient city of Gordion (think Gordion knot and Alexander the Great) was located there are a lot of these tumuli, one of which was opened by an archeologist from Pennsylvania. They labeled this grave as the tomb of King Midas, but no one really knows who was buried here. Valerie walked with most of the group down into the tomb area which she said was like a house built out of cedar logs/planks.

A couple of the group and I went to the small museum where we would meet the whole group later. It showcases such items as clay pottery, glass and metal objects like “safety pins,” figurines, and other Bronze Age stuff found in the tomb and around the general area.

On the Road to Bursa

As the bus pulled back onto the dirt path/road/track a herd of goats and sheep moseyed out onto the road from a farm yard. Herding the sheep was a pair of Anatolian Shepherd dogs wearing spiked metal collars used for fending off wolves and other predators. This massive and very strong dog was first breed in this region even prior to the Ottoman Empire. Angora goats (a corruption of Ankara) were also bred here.

We stopped to eat at a nice highway side restaurant. As we gathered near the front to leave, Valerie saw Aykut hitting the cigarette vending machine as if he had lost his money in the thing. So, thinking to help him out, she hit the machine near the coin release and the whole glass front broke. Dead silence ensued among the 5-6 standing there and then everyone broke into laughter, exclaiming how strong Valerie was. This then brought on a discussion with the restaurant owner and Aykut about how old she is the subtitle being, “to be so strong”. All still chuckling, we boarded the bus to ride on with Aykut reassuring us that we did not need to pay the owner any money for the damage.

We drove in the light rain and fog from wheat fields through forests and on into the city of Bursa that is high enough to get a great deal of snow in the winter. They have enough of it that there are ski resorts in the higher mountains surrounding Bursa.

Bursa

Our first stop was at the large Great Mosque built between 1396-99, where we took off our shoes and went inside with Aykut explaining the details of the building. The mosque has 20 domes and a skylight in the center dome with a fountain directly below, which is very unusual. Unfortunately, because the mosque is so centrally located and the city grew up around it, Valerie was not able to get a picture of the outside.

Aykut said that, according to legend, when the Mosque was going to be built an old woman owned a piece of the property they needed and did not want to sell it. They moved her off her land anyway and she cursed them saying that no prayers would be answered if someone prayed on her land. To make sure no one reaped the curse, they built a fountain inside the mosque covering the area where her land was.

He also explained that to properly pray, a Muslim must wash their exposed body parts 3-5 times before each of the five prayer times during the day. Especially important were the ears (to hear Allah better), the hands, the face, and the feet. This is why there are so many fountains around mosques and prayer rooms. Women washed typically in a separate area. He also pointed out that every mosque had a niche that told you what direction Mecca was in, and he showed us the ritual involved in praying. Men stood shoulder to shoulder facing Mecca, and when they said their prayers they knelt and then several times pressed their foreheads to the carpet and sat back up. Women prayed in the back so their hind ends wouldn’t be facing the men. We thought perhaps this ritual or something like it would be good exercise for us.

Bursa is known for its silk and other textiles as it was once on the silk trade route. We went and looked at the very old silk bazaar, which was built of brick in 1491. Brian and Hans from the “land down under,” and Valerie and I wandered around a bit looking at various shops and then found a place where the lads could buy cappuccinos and we could get some cold drinks (only found lemonade available for us).

We all piled back into the bus on time, but for one, who didn’t remember the leaving time as stated. As we waited for him, (he was walking up the stairs to the sidewalk to get on) the police and Aykut got into it as the police demanded the bus move on. It wound up with the bus driver getting fined $200 USD plus 30 points on his license for remaining in the spot. We were all unhappy about the incident and later took up a collection for the driver to offset his fine.

We were then driven to the hotel Almira, a five star hotel that you could certainly see the difference in that extra star. Sheets smooth and soft, not a muslin quality (you know how I am about my sheets), softer, longer, and wider twin mattresses, and luxury stuff all around. There was even a scale in the bathroom and since it weighed in kilograms, I weighted about ½ what I usually weigh---how about them apples!!!

Aykut had recommended a special kebab that the town was famous for and several of our group went out to give it a try. Since it was just a few hours before dinner, we decided that we would skip that experience. So, after relaxing for a couple of hours, we dressed up a little for dinner. The buffet was good and we were pleased about our decision to skip the kebabs; sleep came early for us.

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Comments

[Croweater]

1305-304
I have abetter (?) photo if you would like it. Cheers, Brian.

[RamblingRosies]

Ya betcha!
Brian--I was hoping you did. I assume you are talking about the cappuchinos?