İstanbul'dan Ankara'ya

From Istanbul to Ankara. On a five-hour bus ride. I remembered my Dramamine this time! :-) On our last day in Istanbul, we took a trip to Adalar 'The Islands' known as the Prince's Islands in English. We visited Büyük Ada 'Big Island'. It was very, very hot, but pleasant nonetheless. We took a picnic lunch and then wandered around a bit before heading back. The following day was the five-hour bus trip to Ankara. It was a nice bus, I have to admit, and more like flying than riding a bus--someone came by every so often to offer drinks and snacks, and we even got a meal. I spent the first hour or so sleeping (Dramamine) and then spent most of the rest of the time knitting... stitch, stitch, stitch. But I'll tell you about that later! ^^ In Ankara, we stayed at Fulya's place and visited the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and Ankara Kalesi 'Ankara Castle'. I also got to meet almost all of Fulya's very wonderful friends and colleagues--she is quite lucky!

Adalar: Büyük Ada 'Prince's Islands: Big Island'

View upon arrival

View when you exit: hordes of people!
Apparently, we weren't the only ones with the bright idea!

A beautiful abandoned house

Covered market? At least it provided some shade.

Ankara'da Fulya'nın evi 'Fulya's house in Ankara'

Balkonda Kahvaltı: Breakfast chez Fulya on her balcony. So, the Turkish word for 'breakfast' is kahvaltı, literally 'under coffee'. Apparently, you would have coffee after breakfast, thereby placing the food under your coffee.

View from Fulya's balcony

Ankara Kalesi 'Ankara Castle'

There was a festival going on at the castle, so there were quite a few people, and a lot of stalls selling assorted goods and handcrafts. Here, Fulya and I are having lunch: delicious gözleme, a sort of savory crispy crêpe made with yufka (i.e., filo dough--paper, paper thin dough used a lot in Turkish and Greek cuisine--think baklava) instead of batter.

The courtyard where we had gözleme, surrounded by assorted antique and clothing shops.

Looking down on Ankara from the castle

Fıstıklar! This is where we got Hugo'nun fıstıkları 'Hugo's fıstıks' (pardon the inside joke). Fıstık in Turkish (related to the English word 'pistachio') refers to dried foodstuffs like nuts and dried berries. As you can see, they have quite an assortment!

A beautiful tree stub in the castle

Not at the castle, but still in Ankara: Lunch with Fulya's colleagues from Bilkent Üniversitesi 'Bilkent University', a very friendly group of people.