We met everyone else from our tour group at the hotel but due to the traffic, the bus was running late and apparently would have trouble getting down the narrow streets to the hotel. The solution? We all went and stood on the corner with our gear and waited for the bus to stop. It did, blocking other traffic. Unfortunately the bus had very little luggage space so somehow TC and I ended up on the back seat jammed up against the wheel arch which left no legroom with our enormous backpacks on our laps. Mutlu assured us the bus we would be on for the rest of the journey would have more luggage space.

We drove across the city (which took a lot longer than the ferry we had arrived on) and got there just in time to board the train. We went straight to the compartments and set up the beds. TC and I shared with Mutlu and Tanya. I opted for a bottom bunk because that made it easier to get up (and meant someone didn’t have to get disrupted by my tossing and turning. In the end Mutlu and Tanya slept on the top bunks.  The beds were more comfortable than I was expecting although I woke up with a sore back because I slept with my little pack under my feet. Fortunately the big pack was flat enough to slide under the seat.  Linen is provided – you get a sheet, a cotton waffle weaved blanket and a pillow with pillowcase. The linen all comes in bags but you have to make your own bed (which was different to my other overnight rail experiences). TC and I headed to the dining car – we had in mind to have some dinner but in the end we got some chips and beers. I slept OK but woke with a desperate need to visit the facilities. TC had warned me not to but I just couldn’t hold on. It was a European style toilet and it was bad but not the most disgusting thing I’ve seen. It sat somewhere in between a plane toilet at the end of a long haul flight and a festival portaloo.

At the end of our journey we walked into familiar territory at Ankara Gar making this our fourth but not quite final journey between Istanbul and Ankara. We got on our tour bus and met our driver Fardi for the first time. Fardi, who was lovely, looked like your quintessential Turk, tall, dark and moustached. I am not sure what it is with the Turks but the men look like they’re permanently participating in Movember. Our first stop was a little bakery café, where we hadn’t been before. Bakery products for breakfast was a change from the traditional Turkish breakfast. TC and I went a bit nuts and chose a smorgasbord of things to try. We got four pastries – a cross between a Danish and pastie, filled with various things – one meat, two different cheese pastries, a plain pastry and an apple pie. And of course they were accompanied by tea.

Of course the only thing we were stopping to see was Anits Kabir. This time, however, we walked up from the entrance along the path we hadn’t bothered to venture down before. At the front are statues depicting soldiers and ordinary Turkish folk (women and the elderly who they were fighting for. The stones in the walk are spaced apart with grass growing between them so you have to look down while you are walking, symbolizing that we have to always pay attention to peace to maintain it. TC reckoned he’d had enough Attaturk the first time and declined to go into the museum. This time, however, we decided to go into the tomb room, well the great hall below which the tomb is stored. It was enormous and yet another sign of how important Attaturk is here. While TC wandered around outside, I went into the museum again on the guided tour. It was really interesting and somewhat confronting, hearing the Turkish story of the Gallipoli conflict or as they call it the Gallipoli war. From their side, the conflict really highlights the rise of Attaturk, who seems to have run the military operation and who apparently told his retreating troops to return to the front and fight to the death. My favourite thing about Anits Kabir is still the sign that says you can’t picnic on the lawns.

Finally we left Ankara and headed out on the road to Goreme in Cappadoccia, home of the fairy chimneys we had heard so much about. Our first stop was at a truckstop for lunch. It was like a real truckstop, not a service station. We queued at the counter and ordered what we wanted for lunch and then moved along a conveyor rail to choose extras, such as salad and dessert. It reminded me quite a lot of the old cafeterias in Kmart and Woolworths and stuff. I chose a salad and stuffed zucchini and rice for lunch. TC had a chicken kebab and we shared rice pudding and honey cake for dessert. One of the things I really enjoyed while I was there was wandering around the confectionary store and deli out the front – there were a million types of honey and white cheese along with more lollies than you could poke a stick at. (Alison – The Pixies – one of the simpler, lesser known yet still chaotic Pixies tunes. Doesn’t quite pack the punch of others but still better than most other tunes out there.)

After lunch we made a stop at a huge salt pan. As we wandered down the hill towards the salt lake, we were stopped to try the restorative properties of the salt. Apparently it’s supposed to make your hands look decades younger. It did make them feel soft but that’s about all. Walking on the salt lake was on odd feeling – it crunched below your feet. I wasn’t really convinced that it had the kind of restorative effects purported but it was a striking panorama and provided lots of photo opportunities. Not least of which was a photo of someone taking a photo of someone lying on the salt lake to take a photo. And ample cheat the perspective shots most commonly associated with pushing the leaning tower of Pisa upright.

After we left the lake we drove further through the valleys surrounding Goreme and made our first stop at a Turkish service station for a ‘bio break’. Service Stations are a treasure trove of junk food alternatives. You can even get beer. Our first discovery was a good one – the reverse lamington – It was a coconut cake with a chocolate syrup middle so tasted just like the old Aussie fundraising favourite. They also had a carrot cake and a banana cake but the lamington was definitely a favourite.

Fueled up and relieved we drove further into the valley capturing our first glimpse of the region’s infamous fairy chimneys. They look spectacular, carved out first by weather and time and then by man   due to the porous and easy to carve nature of the rock. Geology and human ingenuity combined to create villages that could rival those of Tolkien’s hobbits. Without the greenery. Goreme looked like a fairy village in the Australian bush – not the scorched red earth but the sparse bushland – all sandstone and straggly trees. It was late afternoon when we pulled into the Ciner Hotel – an old hotel on the outskirts of the village that looked like the sort of place Americans down on their luck go in Mexico (well at least according to the movies. You imagine it was grand and palatial once upon a time but now it’s just a shadow of its former self. We took a dip in the pool – where we found only our NZ friends brave enough to join us. It was a bit chilly after all.

For dinner we headed into town for dinner. The local specialty was – a pottery kebap. A kebap, rather than what we know as a kebab, it was a kind of Mediterranean casserole cooked in pottery with a cover made of dough to seal it. It’s then cooked in a pizza oven. The tradition is that the top is then knocked off with a really big knife, I let TC have that honour as knives and I are never a good mix. It was served with a cheese salad, chips and bread. The most interesting accompaniment was the dip to have with the bread – a mixture of pomegranate and chili with finely grated cheese. It tasted superb. The restaurant, like many we visited was set up for groups of tourists with big long tables. Largely the people make a trip and I have to say we had a really friendly, interesting and diverse group, a great guide and a fantastic driver. And it was fantastic to just sit around and chat. The conversation even turned to Australia’s wonderful array of dangerous fauna at some point. After an enjoyable dinner, it was back to the hotel and off to bed. (Paranoid Eyes – Pink Floyd – A beautiful song to fall asleep to. Probablytry not to listen to the lyrics or as is often the case with Pink Floyd it will be anxious nightmares rather than calm, fulfilling dreams that fill your slumber.)

Attaturk’s mausoleum

A view of Ankara from the museum

Ankara

The boxes the soldiers stand in during winter

The gardens where picnicking is prohibited

Home delivered maccas

Our third day in Ankara started lazily. We got up slowly. Did some domestic chores like the washing, enjoyed a rather Australian breakfast of vegemite toast and tea. G loaded us up with directions for the taksi driver and we headed out on our ow.. our first trip was to Anits Kabir, the museum that houses the tomb of Attaturk. Our limited explanation for the taksi driver actually got us there fairly easily. We had become accustomed to being screened when we went well pretty much anywhere. As a military building, that was always going to be the case at Anits Kabir. As we wandered up towards the museum we noticed the signs about what you can and can’t do , including not being able to picnic in the grounds. The museum itself is a big parade ground surrounded by the museum with a huge, mausoleum at one end. The museum contained Attaturk’s clothes, swords, pipes, books, jewels, cars and even his boat. There were plenty of paintings showing Attaturk commanding his troops in about three wars including the Gallipoli war. It was interesting to hear the Turkish version of of that conflict. Apparently the Turkish troops left the front and Attaturk asked them why they were retreating and they said they had run out of ammunition. He told them to go back to the front and use their bodies to defend themselves. Essentially it’s all Attaturk, all the time. Turkey has national service which all men have to undertake. One of the jobs is guarding the mausoleum. There are guards at attention everywhere – they look like the mime artists who pose as statues and nothing fazes them – including the Japanese (or sometimes Turkish) tourists standing next to them to get a photo. For winter (it snows in Ankara) they have glass boxes to keep them away from the elements while they do their statue impersonation.
Our next stop was back at the jewellery shop we had visited the day before to pick up my ring. Resized in 24 hours and it was beautiful. Mission accomplished, we took a stroll down the street, and visited Flamingo, and infamous pastry store where we selected a range of small biscuits. It turns out you pay for them by the kilo rather than individually so when we said we wanted two of each, we actually received 200 grams of each one. And we pretty much chose the most boring selection we could have – one had a slight cheese flavor but the rest were pretty plain. Further down the street we found the made in Turkey store our hosts had directed us to. No fat clothes of course but we did manage to find some really cheap underwear that will no doubt come in handy while we zip around Turkey on our tour.
One of the most curious things about Ankara is that you can get everything home delivered, including McDonalds. Here the small mopeds that you see bringing pizza or Chinese takeaway in American movies are plastered with McDonalds ads. It’s also a wonder the city isn’t full of really obese people – you don’t see anyone cycling or jogging either.
G had suggested a bright orange kebab shop along the shopping strip as a possible lunch destination for us. We went in and prepared to order. This was new territory as up until this point we had a Turkish speaking guide or written instructions for the taxi driver. TC sat for a while to survey how the system worked. I have to admit I get a bit lazy travelling with TC and get him to try and work out what to do or who to approach. In this case I told myself that in Turkey, the staff are more likely to look to the man. This was true in some limited circumstances but really I didn’t do it because I didn’t have to. After a few minutes of surveying the situation, TC had it sussed. You go and give your order to one guy, then a second will serve you. Except that there is a third server if you want a kebab. Apparently this is how you keep as many people employed as possible. Our order kept a few people busy as TC had a kebab and I had kumpir- a baked potato with cheese and all sorts of condiments on top including corn, pickled vegetables, meat (turkey ham) and traditionally topped off with tomato sauce and mayonnaise. I passed on the tomato sauce but it was delicious. The assembly process was worth watching- they scoop the cooked potato out and then whip it with cheese until the cheese melts and is thoroughly combined with the potato. Of course when we left the orange takeaway, we realised we had dined at the wrong establishment. The recommended orange kebab place was a block further up the road. [Let’s Face It – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – While we are in Turkey two of my fave bands – the Bosstones and the Dropkick Murphys who hail from Boston will play at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Redsox. If it wasn’t for our Turkey odyssey… Of course TC said the same about the Rugby World Cup.]

Our hunger satisfied, it was time to think about dinner- We wandered back to Flamingo and picked up a box of baklava for dessert and then headed for the butcher (well the poultry purveyor at any rate) and picked up a stack of chicken schnitzels, a favourite meal at Chez G&S by all accounts. We used the previous day’s taksi instructions to get us home and spent the rest of the day relaxing, chatting with G&S and getting packed for our early morning departure. We enjoyed a feast of chicken schnitzel and chips with G,S and their elder daughter Ms. L, who had been sick with the flu during most of our visit. Chez G&S is set up in such a way that Little Miss K has her own activities space so she ate dinner watching a brand new DVD rather than have to listen to the adults waffle on. After dinner we enjoyed the baklava and a magnificent chocolate chick pea cake prepared by our gregarious host. Once again tired at about 9.30pm, we headed to bed to prepare for our early morning departure.

Ankara store fronts

My coffee came with flowers

Wedding car in Ankara

Little Miss K

Our second full day in Ankara began with a Turkish breakfast kindly prepared by G. Fresh tomato, cucumber, white cheese, beef salami (and a bit of a German bent with pork based salami from Adelaide’s central market), boiled eggs, fresh  bread and honey. It was delicious. TC, G, Little Miss K  and I were joined on today’s adventure by G’s British friend Tony, as we strolled down the hill towards Ankara’s version of Double Bay (well as close as it gets anyway – it has a Marks & Spencer). Our first stop was a framing shop where G dropped of a load of stuff for framing which costs a miniscule amount compared to Australia. After that we headed towards the shopping strip for a coffe at Mado, a chain in Ankara (and possibly futher afield in Turkey. My latte came with a sweet that tasted like it had spinach and something similar to mung beans in it, and a vase of daisies. TC had some chocolate profieroles and Little Miss K hads chocolate ice cream which she proudly ordered herself.

After a pleasant coffee, we wandered up to our first shopping mall. In Turkey you have to be security screened to enter just about anywhere, including shopping malls. After we passed the screening point, TC went off to look at the price of electronics , G went to a phone store and then we all headed around to a jewellery store run by a friend of G’s where I looked at a cute amethyst and glass pendant and spectacular silver ring, which was a bit too small. G’s friend measured my ring finger and said she could have one that fits there the following day. [Perfect Government – NOFX – one of their overtly political efforts – I remember listening to this song at a friend’s place after going out to shows. When we did a requesrt round, it was always my pick.]

We wandered further down the street and grabbed a cab to head into Kizaly, one of the big shopping districts where you can find pretty much anything. First stop was G’s leather bag man who was located up a few flights of stairs in what one presumes used to be a private apartment– she stopped off to pick up a couple of bags. Our next stop was lunch at one of Turkey’s oldest restaurants where they served home-style cooking. You go up and choose what you want from a selection of bain maries and they bring it to your table – I chose lamb, creamed mashed potatoes and the spinach dish G had served on our first night. TC was a bit skeptical at first as he had been craving a kebap but eventually had the same as me. My only regret was not choosing the traditional buttered rice. Lunch was followed, of course, by tea

Our next destination was a fabric shop. It was a treasure trove and really cheap too. Conscious of the fact I still had quite a bit of travelling to do, I limited myself to one purchase – some gorgeous embroidered cotton which cost about A$2 per metre. I could have comfortably purchased my weight in fabric in this store but will wait until after our tour.  The cheap crappy sewing machine is going to have to go when we get home.

After the fabric store it was off for what I consider to be another quintessential travel experience – the supermarket. There are a few oddities – a huge cheese counter that mostly stocks different types of white cheese – feta, goats cheese etc with an occasional flash of blue vein. Of course the cold meat section is all beef or chicken – no ham here. There’s lots of fresh in season fruit and no tampons. That’s right ladies, come prepared. We picked up the supplies for dinner – to make a pasta Bolognese and salad and headed home as Little Miss K was by this time a little bit exhausted.

After a short sojourn, TC and I decided to head back to Kizaly on our own for a bit more of a look around. With some handwritten instructions for the taksi driver from G’s Turkish house cleaner, we jumped in a taksi and headed back to Kizaly. First stop was the toy shop hidden inside the walkway across the main thoroughfare. TC was amazed to find incredibly realistic plastic guns, which are well and truly banned at home. It was also easy to buy a real gun and there were plenty of them on the street in the hands of the Turkish soldiers that guarded almost everything.

After a few more electronic shops, TC once again declared Turkey ridiculously expensive for electronics, and we only went into about  one or two more after that. Shoes, however, were a different matter. Somehow we managed to stumble upon shoe row, which TC was really reasonable about. I was tempted a couple of times and too down the name of a store, I think is probably a chain so I can search out their wares in Istanbul.

We wandered a bit further and found some jewellery shops selling mostly mainstream jewellery – diamonds and gold and the like. TC also discovered some police stores selling uniforms and capsicum spray. We hoped that police officers needed to prove they were police officers to buy them but in Turkey, anything is possible. After a bit more of a wander, we decided to head back to G’s. We realized there wasn’t much beer so TC and I wandered up to the local supermarket and stocked up on beer and chips.

We enjoyed yet another home cooked meal on the rooftop terrace – this time Bolognese pasta, a fresh salad of lettuce and tomatoes. Tomatoes in Turkey are exquisite – rich plump and red, like the ones that come out of your garden at home and the cucumbers are fresh, crisp and flavourful. As it was Friday night and the end of their working week, a few drinks were consumed including a caparhina, made with bottled lime juice and lots of cacasa. I had noticed piles of what I imagined were limes at the markets but they were actually very small oranges. Limes are almost impossible to find in Turkey. After dinner we chilled out with G&S and chatted before hitting the sack ready for another relaxing day in Ankara.

We needed to leave about 7am to ensure we arrived at the airport with enough time to spare. Fortunately breakfast was available in the hotel from 6.30am.  Not cheap – 220 AED (about A$60) for two of us but there was the hugest smorgasbord of options I have ever seen for breakfast. There was a healthy food selection, middle east selection, Scandinavian selection, English selection (including bacon), an entire wall off pastries, about eight different types of bread and even a Japanese breakfast We asked the concierge to book us a taxi to the airport and gratefully accepted the suggestion of the hotel’s limousine. It was comfortable (the driver was even wearing a tie) and he knew how to drive fast without sitting right on the tail of the car in front. We arrived early and breezed through check-in and immigration. We had a look around the duty free area and found somewhere to buy postcards and stamps. Unfortunately they only had two stamps for Australia. TC snapped them up and we went and purchased a very expensive coffee and sat down, wrote on the postcards and then found the old school red post box to post the two we had written.

After that it was time to board so we went to the gate to wait with our fellow passengers to board our flight to Istanbul. There were a number of Japanese girls with very short shorts and Etihad blankets wrapped around them as skirts, one imagines at the request of the airline. We took a bus to our (black) plane which had been sitting on the tarmac for some time and prepared to swelter. I had never seen an air hostess sweat before but there was a French hostie on our flight literally dripping it was so hot. We were sitting next to a guy whom we presumed was Indian and discovered at the end of the flight, he was actually from Sydney and was going to study in Ankara for six months. The meal on the flight wasn’t bad. ITandoori chicken on pasta salad, spinach and potato pie and a cardamom flavoured mousse cake. The most interesting part was the route we took. We flew directly over Iraq. Seeing Baghdad from the air was quite surreal.[Feel the Pain – Dinosaur Jr – one of the 90s tunes I loved. Saw these guys at UC about five years ago and it was well worth the effort.]

Hot and bothered was definitely not the right way to arrive at Attaturk International Airport in Istanbul. After the ridiculously organized and efficient Abu Dhabi airport, entry into Turkey was a nightmare. First you have to queue to pay for your visa, then you have to line up to go through the immigration gates. The visa took about 10 minutes of queuing and we thought we could slip quietly into the near empty gate next to us. Except that it was reserved for Iraqi citizens only. We then wandered up to the main immigration gates which were divided in two – Turkish citizens and others. The others gate resembled the security screening gate at LAX that weaves back and forth so far it snakes out the door.  Waiting in this line, we came across four more Australians – this time from Brisbane on their way to Tel Aviv. Eventually just as we got near the front of the line, the airport staff decided we could go throough the Turkish citizens gate. We breezed through and headed off to find our bags. After collecting them we headed over to the domestic terminal, checked in at the kiosk and dropped our bags. On (very good) advice from our hosts in Ankara, we had left quite a lot of time between our flights. We headed through the security scanner. Security scanners are really sensitive in Turkey. The underwire in my bra set it off and I got thoroughly patted down. After that little embarrassment, we wandered around the terminal and sat down for a coffee in a Starbucks (for shame). Then a bit more of a wander and a sizable beer for TC – about 800mls of Efes.  Eventually it was time to depart, again on a bus to the plane. The flight to Ankara was half empty, the way you might expect a 3pm flight to Canberra to be, so TC and I had a chance to spread out a bit. The plane food included a sandwich, a salad and some cheese and crackers. The flight took us down lower than the flight to Istanbul but was basically the same route we had flown earlier that day.

We arrived in Ankara overtired and feeling in desperate need of a shower. And then came the drama. When we arrived, we got directed to the International terminal where after a few minutes it became apparent was not where our bags had arrived. The girl in the airport sent us up to the domestic arrivals hall but the guys there wouldn’t let us in. TC spied my name on a placard held by the driver our hostess G had arranged. (I’ve always wanted to be picked up from the airport by someone holding a placard with my name). The driver was really helpful and basically wouldn’t take no for an answer from the airport staff. Eventually they let us in to go to the lost luggage office. TC was more on the ball than me and spied our bags on a carousel in the distance – saved. The driver got us to Casa G&S safely and our hosts greeted us warmly, and showed us our room in their two-floor, four bathroom luxury apartment and then served us a magnificent Turkish feast of Ispanak Etli, a traditional meat and spinach dish, zuchinnis stuffed with lamb mince and peppers stuffed with rice. A few glasses of wine, some pleasant conversation, some planning for the day ahead, and a little bit of cable TV and it was time for bed. [Deanna – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – regular readers will recognize this song but it is one of my Nick Cave faves]