We had heard that bus travel in Turkey is quite the experience. Legend has it that they have an attendant who serves you complimentary drinks and snacks, in-seat entertainment, and more. We had yet to travel via bus in Turkey and, as life would have it, that was the best way to get from Cappadocia to Ankara.
We got on board only to realize that the legend was true! We had in-seat entertainment that had a welcome screen with our name on it. The attendant came whenever we called him after his first run through. The movies and TV shows were only shown in Turkish, but Pallavi found an exception that was half in Hindi and wasn't dubbed over. That is the way to travel by bus!
We arrived at Ankara's airport-like bus station and needed to make our way to my friend Josh & Anca's house. I had not done my thorough research and only knew that their place was 12 kms south of the bus station and that it might be possible to get there by bus, but they and Wikipedia and the Ankara city bus website couldn't tell me how to do it. Did that stop us?? Of course not! A few questions from random strangers and the information desk later and we made got there. Check public buses in Turkey off of our transportation list!
It was so great to see Josh and Anca. Josh is in the Department of Commerce in the US Embassy, so we got to see all of the perks of staying with a diplomat (he does have a diplomatic passport!). We just relaxed with them and spent the whole next day preparing for and enjoying pre-Thanksgiving dinner. The day after they showed us around the Old City of Ankara, which is surprisingly cool.
Ankara is the capital city, primarily because it is strategically close to nothing. It lacks the charm of Istanbul and some of the size, but at first glance it just looks like a modern city. The old city has a beautiful citadel that clearly was rebuilt multiple times using leftover stones from the previous citadel. As a result, you have a mix of stones with Latin, Greek, etc. written on them, with random stone heads sticking out. We also just walked around the area, which surprisingly is the locals market. There are tons of artsy shops filled with mostly different stuff from what we had seen across the rest of Turkey. All of which are at artsy prices.
We then just relaxed, went to the mall, drank lots of wine, and stayed up just chatting. What a great way to end Turkey. Next stop: Spain!
We got on board only to realize that the legend was true! We had in-seat entertainment that had a welcome screen with our name on it. The attendant came whenever we called him after his first run through. The movies and TV shows were only shown in Turkish, but Pallavi found an exception that was half in Hindi and wasn't dubbed over. That is the way to travel by bus!
We arrived at Ankara's airport-like bus station and needed to make our way to my friend Josh & Anca's house. I had not done my thorough research and only knew that their place was 12 kms south of the bus station and that it might be possible to get there by bus, but they and Wikipedia and the Ankara city bus website couldn't tell me how to do it. Did that stop us?? Of course not! A few questions from random strangers and the information desk later and we made got there. Check public buses in Turkey off of our transportation list!
It was so great to see Josh and Anca. Josh is in the Department of Commerce in the US Embassy, so we got to see all of the perks of staying with a diplomat (he does have a diplomatic passport!). We just relaxed with them and spent the whole next day preparing for and enjoying pre-Thanksgiving dinner. The day after they showed us around the Old City of Ankara, which is surprisingly cool.
Ankara is the capital city, primarily because it is strategically close to nothing. It lacks the charm of Istanbul and some of the size, but at first glance it just looks like a modern city. The old city has a beautiful citadel that clearly was rebuilt multiple times using leftover stones from the previous citadel. As a result, you have a mix of stones with Latin, Greek, etc. written on them, with random stone heads sticking out. We also just walked around the area, which surprisingly is the locals market. There are tons of artsy shops filled with mostly different stuff from what we had seen across the rest of Turkey. All of which are at artsy prices.
We then just relaxed, went to the mall, drank lots of wine, and stayed up just chatting. What a great way to end Turkey. Next stop: Spain!
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