Ankara, Turkey - June 2015
Long Day
I left home in Richardson at 10:00 am Saturday and got to Ankara, Turkey at about 7:00 am (Texas time) on Sunday. 21 hours in airports or planes will wear you out, esp. since I don’t sleep well on an airplane.
Turkey is in Europe and Asia and it looks much different than what I had expected. Ankara is built on many green hills and seems like a very modern city, in fact the roads and buildings seem much more modern than many US cities. See some of the pictures below from my hotel.
Click on any photo to see a larger view
Turkey is in Europe and Asia and it looks much different than what I had expected. Ankara is built on many green hills and seems like a very modern city; in fact the roads and buildings seem much more modern than many US cities. See some of the pictures below from my hotel.
Who is in Charge This Week?
Apparently there’s no government controlling Turkey right now after the elections last week. They had elections for a new president and nobody won. The party that had the most votes now have about 40 days to set up a new government, and if they can’t do that the group that had the second most votes have 40 days to set up a new government. The government here now seems very volatile and a lot of decisions are waiting to see who the new people in charge will be
Location, Location, Location
Turkey got screwed in the neighboring countries category. Their neighbors are Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia (former USSR), Armenia (home of the Kardashians), Iran, Iraq and Syria. The neighborhood is getting even worse with ISIS moving into Syria and Iraq along the southern border. Not good, can you imagine living next to where the Kardashians are from?
Where I am in Turkey
The picture below shows where I am in Turkey. Ankara is in the middle of Turkey nowhere near an ocean. Ankara is built on hills, not mountains and it is also nowhere near a border.
Turkish is hard to read and there are not many signs in English, so I was glad to see the name of a university that I recognized
Don’t Drink It!
In the hotel lobby, there are pitchers of nice fruit water with lemons, oranges and limes for you to drink. Don’t do it!!
We are still in the Middle East, I stay away from any water that does not have a lid on it, and stay away from the ice.
I am drinking beer, cokes, wine and Raki. Also, I always use bottled water to brush my teeth with. After many trips to the Middle East, this has always worked out fine, I have never been sick. Here is what we are drinking:
For my drink, I ordered a Raki because my friend Joe Begue said I had to drink one in Turkey. Two hours later I have a headache. I think the Raki was tequila made from grapes. Finished meal off with a strong, thick Turkish coffee to help me sleep better.
Why do they call this place Turkey?
For dinner last night I had 2 kinds of lamb. For breakfast today I had lamb this and lamb that (no bacon or sausage here).
For lunch today, we were taken out to eat traditional Turkish food. Lots of veggies and yogurt dips plus lamb pieces and lamb meatloaf – all very good! I don’t understand why they call this place Turkey.
If you like kebabs of different kinds, Turkey is the place to be. I am sure that Greece has very good kebabs also
Here is a yogurt kebab dish I had at lunch. Lots of meat, tomatoes and peppers with yogurt on top.
You can also get water buffalo at all of the finest restaurants, I was going to have some to go with the delicious horse meat that I had in Finland in January, but they were out
It’s a Small, Small World
My friends Kent & Laura were going on a cruise and they were in the Munich airport at the same
time today that I was. They were leaving for Europe; I was going the other way. I missed seeing them by an hour. It really is a small world.
