Heading for the hills

Behold, Ankara!

Well I have left Ankara behind, though its dreary weather has followed me (unlike, hopefully, Mehmet from under the bridge).

Ankara was, frankly, quite as boring as I expected it to be. The city had a strangely depressing vibe, like arriving at a party after all the guests have left. Maybe that's partly because it's winter here too, and the weather was overcast and at times drizzly. But a nice little bit of old town on a hill with a view -aside, there really isn't that much to see in Ankara. Indeed Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, invited European architects to collaborate on the design of his bold new capital in the 1930's or so. It's just a shame that they all seemed to be from the country to be known as East Germany in years to come.

Today I investigated the bus system in Turkey, and it is great. No wonder people use buses here rather than trains, which are ridiculously slow. Also, on the bus you get complimentary cups of tea, crackers, Coca-Cola and even a sweet cologne sprinkled by the bus stewardess onto your hands after the dinner break. So everyone sits there very satisfied, maybe needing a toilet break after all that tea, but smelling good!







The reason I was on the bus is above. How strange? Now what does it remind me of? Why, my goodness mr Pear! Isn't that just like a ...
More will be revealed, as I have time to investigate in daylight.

Greetings to all from Cappadocia - tune in next time for more on Kati in the land of magic mushrooms!