24 Hours in Ankara

This past weekend was our free weekend, nine people went to Ankara, Turkey’s capital city, and six people went camping on a mountain. I was one of the nine to go to Ankara. Fortunately, we had our friend Baris as our tour guide and translator. Ankara is Turkey's second largest city with over 4.5 million people and is very modern. This is how we spent our 24 hours in Ankara.

Leaving on Saturday at 8am, we arrived in Ankara at 9:30 via high speed train (250 km/hr, 155mph) and bus. We ate at a little café and then headed to see Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s tomb. Born Mustafa Kemal, he was given the surname ‘Ataturk’ meaning ‘Father of the Turks’ after becoming Turkey’s first president and leading much reform. Today he is simply known as Ataturk. He is beloved by the people of Turkey and there are pictures/monuments/symbols of him everywhere (in cafeterias, offices, street corners, etc). I guess it is also common for people to have his signature, K. Ataturk, tattooed on their forearm (maybe I’ll get G. Washington or something, I think it’d catch on). I make the comparison to George Washington, but there is really no single person throughout America's history that I can compare to Ataturk. Simply put, he is Turkey. The complex that he is buried in is huge and on the top of a hill, making it visible from all over Ankara.

Flowers in the Ataturk complex

Where he is buried

His tomb

The courtyard

After visiting with Ataturk, we walked down Aşgabat Street (or at least I think that’s the name). This street is full of cafes, shops, and pretty much everything. It is similar to İstiklal Street in Istanbul. We ate some ice cream and then were off to see Atakule Tower. The tower is 125m or 410ft tall and over looks all of Ankara. We were able to bring our lunched to the top of the tower to eat, which was pretty cool. Also, one side of the tower overlooks a military base and the president’s house so you’re not allowed to take pictures from that side, but I think we all managed too anyway.

Ankara has an IMAX theater in one of the malls, so of course we had to see The Dark Night Rises. Like all movies in Turkey, there was an intermission, and it couldn’t have come at a better time during one of the fight scenes. There were also three “power outages” during the movie from the generators failing, where the screen went blank and then the scene had to be replayed. In the end, it took over 3 hours to watch, but it was still worth it.

Before the movie...

After the movie

Later, we met up with some of Baris’ friends who live in Ankara and hung out at their apartment. They were really nice and spoke English well. We hung out until early in the morning, went to a bar until 5am, the bus station at 6am, and finally the train station at 7am. At this point we were all very exhausted and glad to be getting on the train to Eskisehir. The trip was a lot of fun and I’m glad we were able to make it! Our next trip is to Ephesus this weekend, which again, should be another great time.

So much culture!

So last week on Tuesday a few of us met our friend from our class, Hakan, for baklava and dondurma (ice cream for those who have forgotten) at his apartment. To my surprise, we did not eat these foods separately, but rather spread a generous amount of dondurma on top of the baklava and ate it that way. I guess this is the traditional way to eat these foods together. It was unbelievably delicious, but extremely sweet. We also conversed with Hakan, his friend Gulse, and his roommates about Turkish and American culture. They were all very friendly and even made us some Turkish tea to drink while we talked. During the conversation, Gulse asked if we would be interested in attending a Turkish wedding the following night, and of course, we said yes!

The next day we rallied the troops, met Hakan, and headed for the wedding. After about 45 minutes on a tram and then a bus we made it to the wedding. The wedding took place above a supermarket in a pretty elaborate banquet room (I would compare it to Royal Scot, for those who are familiar, but instead of a bowling alley there was a supermarket). We were a little late, but apparently Turkish weddings are similar open houses where people can come and go “freely,” so it wasn’t a big deal. When we got there we met Gulse’s dad who shook all of our hands and walked us into the wedding. Only to reiterate how kind Turkish people are (as if I haven’t done so already), a group of men gave up their table for all (14) of us to sit at when we got there. Then we were all introduced to the groom and brought on to the dance floor to participate in a traditional Turkish dance. After the song was over, they played an “American” song for us to dance to. All of the Turkish kids loved it and started dancing with us. I guess at one point the DJ even announced us as “the groom’s American friends” (or something to that effect, pretty cool!). Everyone at the wedding seemed to enjoy us and we definitely enjoyed them. For a majority of the people there, I think it was their first encounter with Americans, so I hope we made a good impression! We all had a great time and it was interesting to see the similarities and differences between American and Turkish weddings. Here are some things that I noticed:

• The dress was more casual than American weddings with hardly anyone wearing ties or even suit coats for that matter.
• There wasn’t a meal served but just plates of little cookie type things.
• I don’t think there was a wedding party (or at least not an obvious one).
• The wedding cake that the bride and groom “cut” was fake but they had an actual cake to feed each other and the guests.
• Toward the end of the wedding, guests formed a line to give the newly married couple their gifts (as opposed to impersonally putting them on a table).

It is still unbelievable to me that we all went to this wedding and I am very glad we did. I feel that something like this would never happen in the U.S. because we are very inflexible and guided by lists and order. There is no way that an extra 14 people could be invited to a wedding the day before and if they did it would be chaos at the reception. Anyway, I hope that the bride and groom and everyone there had as memorable of a time as I (and I'm sure the rest of us) did.

The venue

Bride and groom

Traditional Turkish dancing

"Cutting" of the fake cake with a sword

Do I need a caption?

Actual cake that was actually delicious

Well, since it is the halfway point of this study abroad, I guess it's a good time to give an update about my classes (that is of course why I am here…right?). Wednesday, I took my first exam in hydrology and I think it went pretty well. We should get the results this next week but nothing on the exam was surprising so that's always a good start. My transportation class is still almost 100% in Turkish. We have an exam next Tuesday (which should be interesting and definitely going to be more difficult than hydrology) and our project is 2/3 done, so that is nice! The project makes me feel like I’m in 2^nd grade because it is a bunch of tracing, measuring, and drawing lines (contours, stations, roads, etc.). It’s not hard just very time consuming. The classes here seem to be progressing at a much slower pace than at MSU. The other day however, I learned that it is hard for the Turkish students to understand the technical words that are presented in English (ie. precipitation, infiltration, etc.). So for them it’s like taking two classes in one because they have to learn a new language on top of the new course material. I could not imagine trying to learn an engineering course in another language, so I commend their effort!

This weekend is our free weekend, so I think some of the people in our group and I are going to go Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It should be a good time so stay posted!

Olympos ("Heaven" as some would say)

I am back from Olympos and not looking forward to working on homework or my transportation project. After relaxing on the beach, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, and climbing mountains and ruins it is hard to get back into the swing of things...but that's life.

We left on Thursday around 11:30pm and arrived in Olympos at 8am. We ate breakfast consisting of bread, hard boiled eggs, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, olives, and cubed cheese. This was served every day. Excited to see the sites we quickly changed into our bathing suits and headed to the Mediterranean. To our surprise, the beach was not sandy but rocky. This was pretty cool because I have never really been to a rocky beach and I don’t like getting sand everywhere and on everything. The one downside was that the rocks got extremely hot, to the point that you couldn’t touch them for more than a few seconds.

We swam out to the cliffs and jumped off

Rocky beach and beyond

The colors of the sea were amazing

We were down at the beach for a majority of the day and surprisingly not too many people got burnt. Later that night we went to Yanartaş (Chimera Mountain). This mountain is very unique in that it has naturally occurring fires on it. These fires have been burning for centuries (possibly for 2500 years) and are caused from natural gases seeping out of vents in the Earth’s crust. The fires even relight themselves. Needing to test this, one of the guys I was with poured water on one of the fires, putting it out. Sure enough, a few minutes later, it was relit.

Crappy picture but you can kind of see what I'm talking about (maybe)

I just stole this from one of the other guys, hopefully you can see what I'm talking about

On Saturday, we went for a six hour boat ride on the Mediterranean. We stopped at an island, where we swam, jumped off the boat, and climbed on the cliffs. The boat ride was really enjoyable and the scenery was unbelievable. I could not believe how blue and clear the sea was, I could still see the bottom when swimming in 20+ foot waters!

About to get on the boat.

One of the places we got off and swam

The island and one of the beached we stopped at

We returned to our Pansiyon where we hung out in some bungalows until dinner. Some of us decided to stay up until the sunrise (which was surprisingly easy to do) and this is what we saw…

I don’t know if it was the dinner from the previous night or what, but a total of five people got sick the next day before and during the ride to Eskisehir (fortunately I wasn’t one of them). One of the stops that we made on the way back was to the ancient city of Phaselis. We saw some more ruins, swam in the sea, and even played Euchre. 

Ancient theater

And after about 10 hours on the bus, we finally made it back!

Istanbul Day 2

Exhausted, we woke up, ate breakfast, and got ready for another full day of sightseeing in Istanbul. Our breakfast at the hostel included: tomato wedges, sliced cucumbers, olives, cheese cubes, yogurt, bran cereal, and of course bread. This was served every morning with your choice of tea, coffee, or juice. Our first stop of the day was a boat tour down the Bosporus Strait. The tour lasted roughly 2 hours and was very relaxing. The coastline is very hilly so all of the buildings are layered making for great scenery.

Bosphorus Bridge

The boat ride made us a little hungry so we stopped at this restaurant and had some fish sandwiches. They actually didn’t taste too bad with a little lemon juice, salt, and mayonnaise. However, the rest of the day was spent with fish breath and digging fish bones out of our teeth.

After eating lunch we took the tram to Dolmabahçe Palace. I am told that this is one of the most beautiful palaces in the world and it definitely did not disappoint! It is filled with luxurious items and ornate decorations. The palace has an area of 45,000 m² (11.2 acres), and contains 285 rooms, 46 halls, 6 baths, and 68 toilets. Including a number of chandeliers, one of which hangs in the ceremonial hall and tips the scales at 4.5 tons! Unfortunately we were not “allowed” to take pictures of the inside but some in our group managed to anyway…

4.5 tons

Dolmabahçe Palace from the boat tour (there is more palace to the right)

We then boarded another tram headed for Taksim Square and İstiklal Street. We spent most of our time on İstiklal Street where there are a lot of shops and a ton of people (I think it was more crowded here than in the Grand Bazaar). We visited St. Antoine cathedral and eventually made our way to Galata Tower.

Monument in Taksim Square

İstiklal Street

Galata Tower

View from Galata Tower

For dinner a few of us decided to eat at a restaurant near our hostel on the rooftop terrace. The view was amazing with the Blue Mosque on one side and the Sea of Marmara on the other. 

It also happened to be Agné’s birthday (our Lithuanian friend who lives in Caroline and Qianqian’s apartment), so later that night we all went back to İstiklal Street to celebrate. After an exhilarating two days of sightseeing in Istanbul it was time to return to Eskisehir. It was overwhelming trying to take in everything in such a short amount of time but it was well worth it. I would love to make a return visit in the future and suggest that if given the opportunity to visit Istanbul, take it, you will not regret it! Tomorrow around 11pm we will be leaving for Olympos; more pictures and stories to come!

Istanbul Day 1

We took our first trip this past weekend to Istanbul and it definitely exceeded my expectations. The city is absolutely beautiful and filled with an immense amount of history and culture.

We left for Istanbul on Friday morning at 3a.m. arriving at our hostel around 7:30. We ate some breakfast, dropped off our bags, and met our tour guide. The tour began around 9:30 at the Blue Mosque. Our tour guide told us a lot of information about the history of Turkey, the Blue Mosque, and everything in between. The information was interesting but the delivery was incredibly boring; he spoke rather softly and repeated himself often. I think almost everyone dozed off at some point during the day because of it. Anyway, the Blue Mosque was stunning with extremely intricate mosaics and sheer size. I guess it gets its name from the thousands of handmade blue tiles decorate the inside of the mosque.

Blue Mosque, built in 8 years 400 years ago!

Dome structure of Blue Mosque

Our next stop was “across the street” to the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia was first built in 360 AD and has been rebuilt twice due to fires and the dome collapsing. It was first built as a church, then it was converted into a mosque, and now it is a museum. Ironically, from Istanbul, there is only an 8 degree difference between Jerusalem and Mecca so converting it from a church to a mosque only required minor adjustments. However, during the conversion, all the Christian mosaics were covered in plaster. Fortunately, many were able to be uncovered, revealing incredible works of art. It was fascinating to see two religions, like Christianity and Islam, coexisting in one place, each represented by their own symbols and artifacts. Being there really made me wish that I had a greater knowledge of the history of Islam and Christianity and how they relate to one another.

Hagia Sophia

View from the Empress's balcony

We then went to the Basilica Cistern which is a huge underground water reservoir that used to provide Istanbul with its water supply. Now, it is open to tourists who can walk around and look at the giant columns holding up the ceiling. Two of these columns have a carved out image of Medusa’s head at the base and nobody really knows why.

Basilica Cistern

Medusa's Head

After, we went to Topkapı Palace. This palace was used by the Ottoman Sultans for more than 400 years. There were many ancient artifacts on display in the palace including: clothes, jewelry, and other items belonging to the royal families, an 86 carat diamond, vast amounts of weapons, Moses’ staff, a footprint from Muhammad, and many other religious items. The view from the terrace wasn’t too bad either…

Next on our list was the Grand Bazaar, where everyone was itching to spend their money. I think it was a very successful day for everyone. We all bought various gifts and things to bring home (myself included) and had a lot of fun bargaining for better prices. It was pretty overwhelming at first and I am sure that we didn’t see more than half of it (because there are over 3000 some odd shops) but I was surprised that there weren’t more people. I was expecting almost shoulder to shoulder shopping but there was actually a lot of room to move around. The Spice Bazaar, located down the street from the Grand Bazaar, was also very cool. We all got to try samples of Turkish delight (a gummy candy type thing made out of honey and other favors) and apple tea. Needless to say, we spent some more money here as well. After an exhausting day touring Istanbul we went back to our hostel, ate some food, and hung out by the water for a bit; watching the boats pass by and admiring the lit up skyline.

Entrance at gate 1 of 7

Famous Turkish spices

Hopefully I will post day 2 in Istanbul tomorrow (possibly in less detail).

Bread, bread, and more bread

Have I mentioned the food here is delicious? Since I love trying new foods and all food in general, I decided to make a post about the food here in Turkey.

For breakfast I typically have some type of bread from the local bakery with an occasional banana or peach bought from the local market. Sometimes we will have an omelet or a traditional Turkish breakfast. For lunch we typically go to a local restaurant or cafe. However, we recently got approved to eat at the university cafeteria so from now on I think we will be eating there. This cafteria is not like any at MSU. It only costs 1TL or .6USD for a meal and it is not a buffet; they only cook one meal and you can only go through the line once. For dinner we typically eat at another restaurant or cafe and get a larger meal to last through the night. The food is much cheaper here than in the United States. Most every meal costs less than 10TL or 6USD. I have to laugh though because McDonald’s and other fast food restaurants are considered to be a luxury and are more expensive to eat at then restaurants on the street! Something that is found everywhere and is eaten at almost every meal is bread (ekmek). The bread is very good and made fresh everyday but eating with every meal can get old quickly. Since fast food restaurants are few and far between, bakery items are about the only “on the go” food. This is a stark contrast to American culture where everything is made to be “on the go” and hardly anyone sits down for a meal. Here everyone (especially in the evening and on weekends) can be found at a restaurant or cafe eating or drinking tea and playing board games.

Some bakery goods.

Omelet served with a side of tomato slices.

The other day I tried some of Turkey’s famous baklava, it was amazing! There was so much syrup on it that it was dripping from the bottom of the piece! There is another type of baklava (that I know of) that is filled with pistachio nuts and is called fistic sarmasi. I will definitely be trying this in the near future. Turkey also has some delicious ice cream (or dondurma). I guess it is more like gelato than American ice cream, with a thick and creamy texture that makes it almost sticky and very pungent flavors. There are also some little Turkish candies and other desserts that I will have to try as well. With bakeries around every corner it shouldn't be too difficult.

Delicious baklava.

Assortment of dondurma flavors.

As for drinks, we mostly all just drink water (su) or beer (bira). Pop (mesrubat or kola) is quite expensive compared to other beverages like water, tea (cay), and coffee (kahve). Both the tea and coffee here is delicious and served extremely hot. There is one drink that everyone in Turkey drinks and it is called Ayran. It is literally watered down salty yogurt (sounds delicious I know). Nobody that I am traveling with seems to like it, but I have heard that it is an acquired taste. They do sometimes put this on food, which is more appetizing, but still, moderation is best. Beer is not terribly expensive but is doing a great job of ruining my budget. We seem to be going out quite often to celebrate various occasions like birthdays, 4^th of July, being in Turkey, being done with class (for the day), and really any other reason you can think of. The bars here are pretty cool. A number of them will give you one free beer on a certain day of the week for showing your passport, one of them has a quiz night, and all of them have great snacks. Typically they serve popcorn, very salty peanuts, shrimp chips, or any combination of this. One bar in particular that we find ourselves at quite often is Café del Mundo. The first time we went there the waiter gave all of us three patches: one of the American flag, one of the Turkish flag, and one with the bar’s name. Ever since, we’ve been hooked. They really know how to attract a loyal clientele!

A meter of beer!

Probably the most popular beer in Turkey.

Turkish tea, typically served in this tulip shaped glass.

One of the bars on bar street. Haven't been there yet though...

All of the food here is delicious and I look forward to trying more things like sheep stomach soup and ciborek (a food special to Eskisehir) among others. In a little under 5 hours we will be taking a bus to Istanbul for the weekend. Gule-gule!