I noticed during my short stay here in Turkey that the wearing of masks, sanitizing hands, and social distancing is not a political issue unlike in the US.
After bumping along the coastal cities along the Sea of Marmara and Bosphorus Strait the train finally picked up speed to a maximum of 250 km/hr. The green hills gave way to rolling plains of wheat and other dry crops.
I used my map.me program to get to the Anadolu subway station which was about 1/2 mile away. Once again I bought a metro card and loaded it with 50 TL. The subway directions are easy to follow as are the various exit street locations once you arrive at your destination. I got off at the Kizilay station after just two other stops and quickly found the Deeps Hostel.
I have found that when you stay at hostels, the staff are more likely to be fluent in English and that was the case with Zos. I had a choice of a room with a shared bathroom at 100 TL or a dorm room and I picked the dorm room for 50 TL per night—$6.85 USD. This hostel had a kitchen and when I checked out the refrigerator, I saw it was full. That surprised me because in other hostels I stayed at, the refrigerators generally had several small groupings of portions.
I later learned from a guy from Chicago that most of the people staying here were long-time boarders and not travelers like me. He designed websites for businesses around the world and found Turkey to be an interesting place to stay especially with COVID 19 raging back at his Mom’s home back in Chicago. Another bunkmate was a student from Pakistan on his way to Estonia to study engineering.
During my 4 days stay in Ankara, I found that I spent most of my time near the Citadel where I would visit a mosque, the outstanding Museum of Anatolian Civilization, Ankara Castle, the Roman Baths, and the Rhmi M Koc Industrial Museum as well as wander through the Genclik Park with its idle amusement rides and eating venues next to my Ulus subway stop.
After riding the metro from the Kizlay stop to the Ulus stop, I walked toward the Melike Cenii mosque. Its leather flapping doors were open so I took off my shoes and entered as no service was being held. When there is service, there is a washing or purification station where the worshippers wash their feet and face before heading in. Fridays are the holy day of the week and that is when the mosque is filled with the faithful who pray and listen to sermons. Today it was just a worker and a little kid running around.
After that, I made the hill climb along some cobbled streets to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations where I first rested with a cold peach drink at the outside cafe. I rented an audio iPhone guide which was way easier than reading all of the message boards.
The exhibits moved through the various civilizations beginning with the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Ages, to the Assyrians, Hittites, and Romans. The downstairs portion of the museum was closed because of the limited air circulation during the COVID-19 era.
It was an overload of historical significance made easy by the way they displayed the artifacts and some of their settings. Here are some pictures and videos of the exhibits.
There are many homes inside the Citadel walls as I wandered my way up to the top of the Ankara Castle.
I discovered these musicians playing in this courtyard.
Afterward, I continued on up for some outstanding views of Ankara all spread out. The clusters of housing were probably where the metro stops were.
The following day, I took the Ankara metro to the Anadolu stop and walked to the entrance to the Anit Kabir—Ataturk’s Mausoleum and Museum. After a temperature and security check, I then went to the shuttle bus area where there was this big sign that listed all of the prohibited activities on these grounds—basically no demonstrations or pamphleteering. The short shuttle ride second stop got me to the tomb area and the museum which I learned was also shuttered because of COVID-19.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the founder of modern Turkey and lived from 1881 to 1938. He made Ankara the Capitol of Turkey and had made a point of not visiting Istanbul which was the Capitol of the disintegrating Ottoman Empire following WWI. He led the revolutionary forces against the allies who were attempting to carve up Turkey and was victorious. As the first President of Turkey in 1923, he initiated progressive secular policies including giving women full civil and voting rights beginning in 1930. He died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1938.
On the next day, I went to visit the Roman Baths, but when I got there, I found another COVID-19 closure. Not to waste the day, I was up for another museum visit which was across from the entrance to the Ankara Castle, after walking up the steep cobbled streets and by several cafes and trinket shops.
It was the Rahmi M Koc Industrial Museum which was full of interesting transportation, communications, science, printing, and everyday life from the past to the present. Many of the items were set up in rooms featuring weaving, carpentry, metalwork, watchmaking, cobblers, etc.
After this visit, I returned to the Ulus metro stop and decided to go to the adjacent Genclik Park to have some lunch at one of the many cafes. For a Sunday it was almost deserted and the amusement rides were not operating—probably another victim of COVID-19. My lunch was like a soft taco with meatball filling—called dolma.
In the evenings I found a nearby Fiesta restaurant that featured live Turkish music which I enjoyed along with some good meals. One was the kofte—meatballs and the other was a chicken casserole.
On September 20th, I went back to the Fiesta restaurant for an omelet, OJ, and coffee latte before getting on the metro for the ASTI stop which was at the Ankara Otogar—bus station where I caught a bus to Safranbolu—a 3-hour bus ride that cost 50 TL.
I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my Peru Adventures there as well as my other travel videos. That link is https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold
Ataturk would be turning over in his tomb!
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