ANKARA
Travel to the age of a pandemic
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The promotional price for the Kiev-Ankara-Kiev flight from the Pegasus airline was so attractive that even the risk of losing these tickets if Turkey falls into the "red zone" could not stop us. And here we are at the entrance to the Boryspil airport. The difference from previous trips was that at the entrance they checked for masks, tickets and passports, and those seeing off could not get into the departure hall.
Keeping a social distance, I photographed the new cap on my first trip, as the previous "travel cap" was badly worn out.
This time Boryspil has pleased with a new interesting exhibition in the departure area. It was about the power of the Signature. A large and unusual installation, covering the entire human history on this topic: handprints in caves, signatures with a pen and a fountain pen, fingerprints and so on, up to the biometric data of our time. It was interesting.
Airport "Esenboga" in Ankara surprised by its scale and absolute desolation. We were lucky as usual. We knew we needed bus 442, which goes to the city center and stops near our hotel. But due to the coronavirus, his schedule was very rough, we knew that he had to drive about once an hour. We left the airport and saw at once three buses of the "Havas" company, which travelers use to get to the bus station to go to Cappadocia and other destinations from Ankara, but our bus was not there. After interviewing local workers, we learned that bus stop 442 is located far to the right of the airport exit. Looking closely, we saw a bus standing there, which was already moving away. We quickly ran after him, but we had no chance to catch up with the bus. At that moment one of the "Havas" drove along, next to which we were standing, and his driver saw our running efforts. He caught up with bus 442, signaled to the driver, who stopped and waited for us. It was very pleasant, because hanging around for another hour on the street at night, waiting for the next bus, when the temperature is only 3 degrees, is not the greatest pleasure.
The road to the center along the empty night streets took about 20 minutes. We remember a multi-storey residential complex in the suburbs, which glowed with bright multicolored lights.
We arrived at the hotel very early in the morning, and the check-in should be after 14:00. And when I spent the whole night at the airport, on the plane and on the bus, by the morning the fatigue was incredible. We were in a similar situation when we flew to Dubai. Then the hotel asked us for an early check-in 100% of the cost per day (and the prices there are considerable), we refused and just sat in the lobby. An hour later, an employee came up to us and said that they were ready to settle us for 50%, we continued to sit in the lobby 😉 After forty minutes, a girl manager came up to us and said that she had found us a room for free 😂😂😂 In Ankara, to our joy we were checked in at 6:30 am without even trying to beg for extra payment.
And among other things, entering the room, we found a large balcony with an excellent view of the capital of Turkey.
Our hotel also met us halfway and allowed a late check-out. For the excellent treatment of our guests, we sincerely recommend the Radisson Blu Hotel in Ankara.
After sleeping for a couple of hours, we found that the view from the balcony became much brighter and sunnier. The peculiarity of November weather in Ankara: at night 3-4 degrees of heat, and in the daytime 16-18, almost summer! (well, maybe not the best summer) 😊
The approximate route of our walks was prepared in advance, so we knew where we were going and what we wanted to see. But they were constantly distracted, either by the famous Turkish bagels, or by the pretentious street lamps, which were decorated with the coat of arms and the inscription "Ankara" below.
And here we are near the monument to Ataturk. He looks at Ankara sitting on a beautiful horse.
And around him is a sea of doves. Enterprising residents bring grain packed in bags to the city square and sell them to passers-by for 1 lira (a little less than 4 hryvnias).
In the era of coronavirus, we were frustrated by the comparative cost of masks for the residents of Turkey and Ukraine. With a minimum wage of 2,500 liras, a Turk can afford more than 8,000 masks a month, while a Ukrainian with 5,000 hryvnias of the minimum wage can afford less than 1,000. Here's the proof: a pack of 50 masks costs 15 liras, which is a little more than 1 hryvnia per mask.
From the equestrian statue of Ataturk, passing by the National Bank of Turkey, we went to the Roman Baths. But we did not go inside, as the ruins did not look very interesting to us. We photographed them through the fence and moved on.
Trying to take a shortcut to the famous sights of Ankara, we wandered into completely non-touristy quarters. They did not look attractive, and the market, located on portable tables, would certainly surprise us with low prices, but we were in a hurry to leave this place as soon as possible, going out on the calm tourist paths of the Turkish capital.
After walking about 500 meters we found ourselves in an area that was built especially for the guests of the city. Here they completely recreated the ancient Turkish architecture and opened many shops and cafes for tourists.
On the streets of this tourist area, local cats are fighting a merciless struggle for survival. The next photo shows how the black cat deals with four opponents at once.
This tourist area was built in this place for a reason. It flanks two key landmarks: the ruins of an ancient Roman temple and the attached Haci Bayram mosque. On the huge wall of the Roman temple, texts in Latin are preserved and easily read, and the mosque is a place of pilgrimage for many Muslims. There is a nice park near the sights.
The temple and the mosque stand on a hill, where many climb on escalators. We have already seen open escalators on the street when we visited Budapest.
We took a modern selfie in front of the endless districts of Ankara and walked down the hill, hoping for something to eat.
Under the hill, we met several tiers of multi-colored roses, which please the eye in November, somehow especially strongly.
Then there was a kebab, which was accompanied by freshly baked flatbread and unlimited, but absolutely free Turkish tea. The waiter kept filling my tea tulip, and when it came time to pay the bill, there was no tea. 👍👍👍
Passing the social university of Ankara, we saw a column, which turned out to be a gift to the city from the Roman emperor Julianus, after his visit here in 362.
And then we went to see the mosque "Osmanli camii", the minarets of which we noticed in the morning, when we were eating a bagel, crossing the road to our hotel. The mosque was beautiful, especially in the rays of the setting sun.
Not far from the mosque, we met a monument to the President of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev. Why Turkey erected a monument to him during his lifetime in its capital, we could not find out. But why the streets of Ankara were hung with Azerbaijani flags was clear to us. War events were taking place in Karabakh right on those days, and the Turks fiercely supported their Azeri brothers.
Walking through the park "Cumhuriyet", we did not know that there were blocks of government buildings behind it, so we were surprised when we were stopped by a police patrol. After checking the documents and finding out in good English our goals for staying in Ankara, the police wished us a good day and we reached the end of the park, where there is a sign saying that the Turkish capital was the consul of Europe in 2007.
The next park in Ankara shocked us with the sculpture of huge hands that stretch to the sky. Not far from these hands stands the Hittite Sun with animals inside. This is one of the symbols of the Hittite kingdom, which was found during excavations near Ankara. For several decades this symbol was the coat of arms of Ankara, apparently because the inhabitants consider themselves heirs of the ancient kingdom of the Hittites.
And now a riddle: on the streets of Ankara we found trees with huge round fruits that were hard to the touch and covered with very sticky sap. We have photographed for you one of these fruits that fell from a tree, and if you know the name of such a plant, write in the comments to the report.
We were told that Ankara is not very hospitable to tourists in summer, as the temperature in the city is often above 40 degrees. To overcome the heat, hardworking residents of the city have organized many mini-parks under bridges and highways, where you can find shade and coolness from various fountains. Here is one of these parks, where a waterfall is built, trees are planted and benches are installed. It is located opposite the Ankara City Court.
The number one attraction in the city is Anitkabir, which can be translated as "mausoleum-burial vault", where the first president Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is buried, whom the Turks consider the founder of their modern state. We decided to visit this place and leisurely, in an hour and a half we got there from our hotel on foot. The clock was 16:20, we are standing near the gate of the mausoleum, and the polite guard explains to us that we will not be able to enter the territory, because from November 1, entrance is only allowed until 16:00 !!! If we had time to enter the territory by 16:00, we could still calmly walk there until 18:00, but we were late. At first we did not believe it, but seeing that after us they explained the same thing to the Turks that they had arrived by taxi, we were upset, photographed Anitkabir from behind the fence and went back to the hotel. Now you know that you cannot come to this sight later than the specified time: "This is the rule of the militarized guard of the mausoleum, which no one ever breaks" - this is how the guard at the entrance explained to us.
Walking through the streets of Ankara, we met the image of a huge clown on the building. For the last couple of years they have been simply following us, as, for example, in Bruges 😉 And on the wall of the library located in the center, we found a portrait of Leo Tolstoy with his quote in Turkish.
On the last day of our trip, we decided not to go far from the hotel and dedicated the day to Gençlik Youth Park. In the following photos of the park entrance you will see: 1. Two Hittites and a fountain 2. Two Hittites without a fountain 😂😂😂
In the depths of the park, there are attractions. The entrance to the entertainment area costs 1.5 lira (5.5 hryvnia), and riding on any of the attractions is 7.5 lira (28 hryvnia). In this world of entertainment, we were attracted only by the Ferris Wheel, because we wanted to see the beauty of Ankara from above.
From the highest point, the distant areas of Ankara were visible in a whitish haze and the legs of people who shouted "help" while rotating on a nearby attraction 😉 Uncle - the caretaker explained to us that we can make 3 turns, and when we were going to leave, he waved his hand at us, like - take another circle. And it was nice.
What surprised us: The Cars ride was packed with people even though it was mid-afternoon on a Monday, and many of the other rides were empty. We were touched by the sculpture dedicated to giraffes in this park, where Mom kisses the baby and was amused by the important magpies, who allowed themselves to be photographed from a short distance.
Evening came and we had to go to the airport. Lifehack: Bus 442 stops near the Ankara football arena, which is located behind the Youth Park. Since we ourselves had to spend some time looking for a stop, we photographed the post where the bus sign 442 hangs. Just walk along the fence of the stadium and wait for the bus under the sign. We were lucky with this bus the second time: as soon as we found the sign, a couple of minutes passed and the 442 bus took us away. 11 Turkish Lira per person and you are at the Esenboga airport.
Entering the departure hall and seeing the schedule of international flights, we were surprised. During the day in the era of the pandemic, Ankara airport received only 4 flights and the only European destination was Kiev. Ankara received domestic flights 24 a day. This was unusual for us, because we know that usually there are many international flights in Kiev, while domestic flights hardly fly.
Ankara became an exciting adventure for us, which allowed us to open another new world and extended the sunny weather for three days in this difficult 2020. Once again, I would like to thank fate for the fact that we were born in the era of advanced aviation, which allows us to be in a new interesting place in a couple of hours, and then return home in the same couple of hours. Be sure to travel!
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