Exploring Ankara

After several weeks without travelling (c'mon I'm an Erasmus, I have to explore!) my trip to Ankara finally happened. Since I had a fried studying Dentistry there who offered housing, I didn't think twice!

Seeing the prices, the bus ride was about 100 TL and the plane travel 120 TL by Pegasus airlines. Since the flight takes only 1 hour and the bus ride lasts roughly 8:30 hours I didn't think twice and booked the flight for the 17th November. My trip would last from Friday to Monday.

The first step was getting into the airport (when I arrived in Izmir in September I had someone to pick me up, this time I caught the Metro until Halkapınar an then the slow Izban until the airport).

The flight went smoothly except for the landing - I had a condition named Aerosinusitis which gave me lots of headaches during the all weekend, but that wasn't properly the airline's fault! Once I landed in Ankara Esenboğa Airport (an interesting airport since it even has an interior lake) I had to take the 442 bus. Ankara transport system isn't one of the best - the metro lines don't reach the airport, not even near. I had to go to the Ankara Transport System website (in Turkish of course, without an English option) and with a little help from Google Translator I somehow figured out were that bus stops. After a 40 min journey, and with the assistance of my phone's GPS, I found out the correct stop (yes, the bus doesn't tell you the name of the stations). After a 15 minute walk from Gazi Hospital until the Beşevler station, I was greeted by my friends who took me to their house - they live with 2 Syrian guys and a female Husky puppy!

The first thing I noticed in Ankara was the weather: cold and dry. Izmir in this time of the year has a temperature around 15ºC-20ºC and it was only 6ºC in Ankara. Being clever as I am, I didn't bring gloves or a bonnet, which lead to frozen, swollen and purple fingers and cold ears. Therefore, my whole description of Ankara is influenced by my bad mood and discomfort!

Everyone told me that there was nothing worth seeing in the capital, but I always want to see things by myself to check if it was true or not. For my three-day stay I made a list of the must-see points:

The Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk - Anıtkabir

Anıtkabir as seen from the sidewalk

The girls' house was very near to this monument, so we simply walked there. For the ones who have to travel by metro, the exit station is Beşevler ankaray station.

The construction of Anıtkabir, which took nine years, commenced on 9 October 1944 with the ceremony of laying the foundation stone. All stones and marbles used o the construction were brought in from various parts of Turkey, to be a representation of the Turkish People's devotion to Mustafa Kemal.

The main building who holds Atatürk's symbolic grave

This is the resting place of Atatürk's body. Having heard so much about Atatürk this past couple of months and seeing how  much the Turkish people love him, I felt really honored being able to be there. The place is surrounded by a beautiful park named "Peace Park" (in honor of Atatürk's famous expression "Peace at home, peace in the world"). The place is huge, having a big open square and a main building.

There is also the Museum, depicting many parts of the modern-Turkey history, almost entirely dedicated to Atatürk. It's really informative if you pay attention, and you can now a bit more about why this man is so adored. You can even learn about the story of Atatürk's funeral, how his body didn't decay and was stuffed. Since the tomb in the main building is symbolic (a.k.a. it's empty) there is a live broadcast of Atatürk's real tomb shown (in a non-accessible part of the museum) on a tv screen! Yes, a live broadcast to a tomb! One of the best parts was the gift shop, were I bought a giant Atatürk 2013 Calender, an Atatürk tie and Atatürk car stickers! I have a bit of Atatürk fever right now.

Gençlik Park

Gençlik Park by night

Later that day we went to Gençlik Parkı, a very beautiful city park (with a Luna park inside it!). This place is specially great in the night because of all the lights it has. During the day time you can appreciate a water-show in the park's immense fountain. It's also an ideal place to lose things - I actually lost my camera there. Luckily my friend found it untouched, laying in a bush half an hour later. Uffs!

The main entrance

Panomara by sunset

The 27.5 ha park is almost at the center of Ankara. Its altitude is about 850 m, which makes it one of the lowest points in Ankara (lowest!). It's surrounded by coffee shops and kiosks, ideal to spend a Sunday afternoon. In the evening, the giant lake fills with lots of water jets playing to the sound of pop music.

The giant wheel, inside Gençlik park

Hacı Bayram Mosque, Temple of Augustus and Rome, and the Column of Julian the Apostate

The next day we had lunch in a fancy place and went straight ahead to visit the Hacı Bayram Mosque, witch had the Temple of Augustus right next to it. The mosque looks old, with some old construction on the front, but since there was nothing in English explaining, we just looked from the outside - nothing special at all. On it's left side lays the Temple of Augustus and Rome - named also Monumentum Ancyranum,where the inscription Res Gestae Divi Augusti, a text recounting the deeds of the first Roman emperor Augustus, was found, the most intact copy of which is preserved on the walls of this temple. Thank God there was a small board with some info in English! There is also a very nice and small fountain in that place and a good view to the hills - Hacı Bayram Park -, where you can see Ankara's Castle.

The Temple of Augustus and Rome

Ancara's Castle as seen from across the hill

Down the hill at the right, hidden in a square, there's the Column of Julian the Apostate, surrounded by administrative buildings. It is popularly known as Belkis Minaresi, or Queen of Sheba and possesses columns derived from Corinthian order. No plaques, no information - if you don't search in advance you won't really know what and old and big column is doing int he middle of a square. It's nothing special if you compare to the ones there are on Istanbul  but I thought it was perfect - placed on the edge of a small garden with a fountain in a quiet place, with a stork's nest on the top.

The Column of Julian and the small park

Kocatepe Mosque

The huge lamp on the center

Our next stop was Kocatepe Mosque. It's about some 3 km if you walk from the Gençlik park. You'll walk in some nice streets with several shops and the typical rush-rush of the big cities. When we arrived there, we thought the entrance was at the street level - and we ended up in a shopping center. A complete mall right underneath the mosque, that's modern (and warm, a nice change from the freezing weather outside)! Once we got off, we found the main entrance of the mosque. Let me tell you, I was completely flabbergasted by this mosque. It's very recent, about 25 years old, but it's grandiosity makes it one of the must-see points of Ankara. Inside, I found an amazing lamp right on the center of the mosque, which is beautifully decorated with Arabic motifs and with a wide open space. I can't exactly tell you what amazed me the most, if the decoration of the grandiosity, but I really really liked this place, I could feel peace inside it - I even made a little prayer =)

Towards the end of the day we went to a fancy street with lots of posh and expensive shops to have a snack before dinner. I didn't want my wallet to be empty so my I decided my stomach should take one for the team.

We did all of those places by walking - undoubtedly the best thing to do if you are sightseeing - but beware that Ankara has lots of hills and few information for tourists. I had the appropriate trainers and my phone's GPS, otherwise I'd be completely lost.

Museums

Naked fat ladies were famous in ancient times

Our third and last day, a Monday morning, began with a trip to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. We went by metro until Ulus, the station near Gençlik park, and walked up the hill until the museum. Turns out it was really near the place we were the day before (Hacı Bayram Mosque and the Temple of Augustus). My GPS wasn't working because the sky was too cloudy (my phone isn't exactly new, give it a break) so I just followed the map - finding the museum wasn't very hard but it wasn't easy also. Again, the lack of proper signalization didn't help. There were some shortcuts and stairs to reach the hill top more easily but I just found them when I was coming down from the museum. To tell you the truth the museum was a disappointment - I had my expectations high since I knew it has won some sort of important award and everybody spoke about it in the travel websites. When we arrived I found a cool garden and we entered the building. The collections goes backwards, meaning you enter in the gift shop and to the final part of the museum (????), not to mention the cleaning lady who was vacuuming the floor. After just two rooms, we had come to an end. When asked about this, the security guard told us the bottom floor was closed. Ok... so we walked for an hour to see two rooms. Also, they were charging full price (15 TL). Since I have the Museum Card, I entered for free, but if I was a tourist I'd be pissed and demand for half of my money back (since only half of the museum was opened anyway).

We saw we were near the citadel, Ankara's Castle, so we decided to go a bit further up the hill to enter it. When we reached the top, we saw lots of trucks and constructors. Doubting that was the castle, I approached the rock walls and I saw an inscription (in English, the same text that is on Wikipedia!) and yes, that was the castle. I entered the walls and inside there were some nice restaurants and old houses - but all of those closed due to the works they have there. The floor was dirty, holes opened, mud, water everywhere and lots of noise. We decided it was not worth it and we left.

The Ethnographic museum

Until this point our Monday wasn't the best day but we thought this still could be productive day if we went to the Ethnographic Museum. It has some nice reviews and they say the view of Ankara's landscape was exquisite.  Plus, I knew Atatürk's body had been there for several years until his mausoleum was ready, so it must mean it was worth the visit. After a long walk, the reached the place with the help of my GPS although this place has some signalization. From the main street you can see the writing on the walls saying Ethnographic museum. We entered the place, two good looking buildings and a square in front of them - the gardens were small but the view was excellent  There is an Atatürk's statue on a horse overlooking his mausoleum far away on the other corner of the city, somehow poetic huh? So, outside this placed looked great (it even has a red carpet on the stairs leading to the door), so we entered the museum... only to hear the words "Kapat Kapat"! The museum was closed. At least one of the two buildings was. A bit frustrated, we walked to the other one, but of course it was closed too. It seems everything is closed on Mondays - which is completely stupid and inappropriate  BUT, I can't really complain since in Lisbon, my country's capital, the museum and attractions are closed on Mondays too to complement the stupidity. So, we sort of wasted the morning because we only saw two museum rooms. But hey, better than staying at home sleeping, at least I saw something.

Entrance to the museum... who was closed

Our stay came to and end and we had to go the airport. We chose to go on the same bus that drove us from the airport to the city center the previous time, the 442. We checked the internet to see if the bus stop was the same, and on the website it said we could catch the bus on the other side of the road, which makes sense since the bus is driving to the opposite side now. We waited for more than an hour and the bus never came. Time was ticking and our flight was about to departure in a hour. On the exact moment when I was thinking about hitchhiking to the airport (which is not very likely since we were two guys) or taking an expensive cab, my mate had the cleverness of asking a police that was passing by if the bus even stopped here. Turns out we had to take the bus on the same spot it stopped coming from the airport, then I does a complicated circuit on the city center and goes to the airport on another road. We were lucky enough to have a 442 bus the exact moment we crossed the road to the other side. When we realized the bus was still going to the city center on rush hour and our flight was less than one hour away, we started to panic a bit. That's when we realized the time on the ticket was when the gates opened, the actual flight departed half an hour after that. So, thanks to this little mistake we had a really nice scare but we were there in time.

To sum up, I liked Ankara but just for a few days - the city isn't properly beautiful and attractive for tourism, it's not even ready for serious tourism I guess, the metro system is short (it should at least reach a place close  to the airport) and the payment should be done in a different method since you pay every time you walk away from the station and enter again, even if it is a 3 minute stop to get the newspaper. The traffic is chaotic, the weather is terrible and cold (compared to Izmir at least) but it has several nice thinks also: it's a green city with lots of parks to walk around, they have some really quiet places to live within the city center (it's really good in my opinion, you live in the city but without all the rush) and there are lots of museums to see (but closed on Mondays!). It's a nice place to visit, but just if you are near it or if you like Turkey's history and Atatürk like me. And hey, after all it's always cool to visit the capital!

About Turkey

There are some preconceptions about Turkey that are completely wrong. Due to it's geographical position and main religion, many (or most) people think it's a country with many instability, conflicts and that pet hate towards the people from the west. It couldn't be farther away from the truth. But lets go the data first.

Turkey within the European Union

Area: 783,562 km2	Language: Turkish
Religion: 97% Muslim, 1% Atheist, 0,6% Christians	Population: 75 million
Largest cities: Istanbul, Ankara (capital), Izmir	Ethic groups: 70–75% Turks, 18% Kurds
Currency: Turkish Lira (1€ = 2,30 TL) as of 09/2012	Human Development Index: Hight (92nd of 187) as of  2011

Turkish Provinces

Turkey is located both in Europe (3%, that left part from Istanbul) and Asia - what means you're doing Erasmus in another continent x)

Weather

The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea have a temperate Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, wet winters. I came to Izmir in the middle of September and had temperatures around 33ºC during the day and 20ºC during the night - if you come from a northern country prepare yourself for some very hot weeks. In the interior, in Ankara for example, the temperatures are more extreme, with even high values during the day and negative temperatures during the night.

Feeling too hot? What about a trip to Çesme?

Economy and Prices

Judging by the countries around Turkey, I wasn't expecting such a thriving economy as I've seen. Turkey is one of the most powerful word economies being part of the G-20, and one of the few that it's actually growing and not contracting. It seems like every Turkish has the new iPhone or Samsung Galaxy - even though they are more expensive here than in other parts of Europe!

The food is really cheap and you can eat for 5/6 TL in some places. The supermarkets can have really nice promotions (like a bag of chocolate cookies for 1 TL). The main hypermarket here is Kipa (kind of like Tesco in the UK or Continente in Portugal). 

The prices are generally cheaper than in the western part of Europe, except for the milk (and if it's soy milk, oh boy, you'll pay big bucks for that), cereals and alcoholic drinks. Yeah, you read it right! The prices here are stupidly high and if you're a heavy drinker you'll have to bring that extra cash.

Apart from that, everything seems to be cheaper - the bus rides, the domestic flights, the food, the transport, the clothes, etc, etc. One thing you'll have to do is bargain. If you never did that before, you will master the art! 20 TL for a hat? No way, you can have it for 10, just bargain with the salesman. If you just accept the normal price without bargain I think the sellers will think you're not normal!

The people

The Türk are reaaaally nice to foreigners. They will try to help you in what they can, even though they can't understand you and vice-versa. They're very welcoming and will invite you for a cup of tea - a very hot Çay. One sentence that will be very helpfull is "Türkce bilmiyorum" - I don't speak Turkish - it's by far the most useful sentence I've ever learn! Some people will still speak turkish to you even with you saying you can't speak it. When that happens just say yes (evet) to everything, smile and go away x)

They have a great deal of admiration towards Atatürk - literally the father of the Turkish - with pictures and statues of him in every public building, squares and at their houses. But I'll do another post about it.

The Turkish are also very tolerant, specially the ones from big cities - so it's natural so see girls in short skirts or with a cleavage, people from other religions or even transgenders as in many other western countries. 

A very conservative country? Here's transgender in a boat party!

The food

The first thing you should know is that you won't definitely find pork here. Even if you can find, it will be a salami-type of meat, so forget about that amazing beef you like so much. The Turkish cuisine is heavily influenced by the the heritage of Ottoman cuisine - luckily olive oil is the major type of oil used for cooking, which I appreciate since I'm Portuguese.

Simit is a special type of circular bread with sesame seeds you'll see everywhere, generelally for breakfast or lunch. It's quite good actually, the first time I ate it was in a private class and it was offered by the professor (how about that Turkish hospitality!).

Selling Simit on the street

Çay - the Turkish black tea - is consumed in every part of the day, breakfast, after lunch, in the afternoon, evening, after dinner, etc, being traditionally offered to guest. The çay is traditionally offered in small tulip-shaped glasses which are usually held by the rim, in order to save the drinker's fingertips from being burned, as the tea is served boiling hot. Çay is drunken in the same way that the Portuguese and Italians drink their Espressos. The Turkish Coffe (Türk Kahve) is also very popular, consisting in a strong non-filtered cup of coffe. and you'll find people who can read your future in the coffe grounds - your future in the cup and your family's in the saucer.

Çay served in a very distinctive cup - half drunk of course!

Turkish coffe with turkish delights

Wanna know your future?

For the actual meal, you can easily find the tradicional köfte, döner or kebabs anywhere. Rice (pilav) or Bulgur (kind of a special rice) are key ingredients, and you'll find that eating chicken (tavuk) twice a day almost everyday is quite normal. Fish is nowhere to be seen, at least where I'm living (Bornova, Izmir). The eggplant (aubergine) is normally present in every meal, cooked in several kinds of ways. Biber (a kind of peper) is also heavily used. For the salad, cucumber is the key ingredient.

A dish like this costs no more thant 2,5 €. You won't miss chicken since it's everywhere.

Bulgur with beans in a low-cost restaurant

Kumru - traditional sandwich of Çesme.

Yoghurt is also a very important element in Turkish cuisine (the word yoghurt derives from the Turkish word yoğur). Yoghurt can accompany almost all meat dishes (kebabs, köfte), vegetable dishes (especially fried eggplant). In villages, yoghurt is regularly eaten with rice or bread. They eat their yoghurt in the natural way here, which means no sugar and no added flavors. Tough luck! One interesting thing is that they made a special beberage made of yoghurt called Ayran, wich is a cold beverage of yogurt mixed with cold water and sometimes salt, pouring from a fountain-like machine. I haven't tasted it yet, so I won't speak much about it =)

Although it's not a food an more of a cultural habit, the Turkish love to smoke the waterpipe, known as Nargile. It's very normal to go out and see lots of people, old and young, smoking and socializing.

The nargile - whaterpipe

The traffic

It's just crazy. I feared for my life, but it deserves a whole post dedicated to it!