Weather - Overcast and mild
Accommodation - Swissotel, Ankara
It was an early start with a five thirty wake up call. We left Istanbul at 7.15am and it took nearly two hours to reach the outskirts of the city due to congested traffic and just the mere size of a city with fifteen million inhabitants.
Today was our longest bus ride of the tour at approximately five hours but it was interesting to see the changing nature of the countryside after we crossed the Bulo Mountains which were about 1600 metres high. Compared to the green countryside around the coastal area of Istanbul the terrain is much more sparse and dry as we headed south east and inland to Ankara, Turkey's capital.
As we motored along the modern freeway Funda had time to talk about the geography, the politics, education and other interesting facts about Turkey. We had our first coffee break at nine thirty and it was very amusing. The barista person was absent and two managers in very smart suits decided to make the coffee. They had no idea of what to do and the queue was getting longer and longer. One of our group, Barbara, remarked that she waited so long for her coffee that she nearly lost the will to live! Anyway, here's a photo of Janine, Barbara, Carol and I showing that we eventually did get to have some coffee before we got onto the bus and completed our journey to Ankara.
On arrival at Ankara we had a late group lunch of traditional Turkish food including a tasty semolina dessert with unusual sticky ice-cream. We then set off to the Museum of Anatolian Civilisation for the remainder of the afternoon. This is a fascinating archeological museum starting at the Palaeolithic time going chronologically through the major periods including neolithic, bronze age, Hittites up to the Ottomon period. There is an extensive and impressive collection of artefacts dating back hundreds of thousands of years.
There was a low relief sculpture dating back to 900BC showing figures playing knucklebones and turning whirligigs. Some things don't change!
Ankara has five million inhabitants and, unlike Istanbul, is a planned city with wide streets and is the country's administrative centre. The housing is dense!
Our accommodation is a five star boutique hotel in an exclusive area of Ankara where many embassies are also located. Security is evident and we have to go through a security check before entering the foyer. We had a free night and after a large lunch we were not feeling too hungry. We found a local nearby cafe and we all had tasty Turkish meatballs. It was an early night for us following such an early start.
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