Ankara -- Katrina -- Week 5

A Day Trip and More Rainy Days

 Everyone here tells us the rainy days should have ended with June, but I broke down and bought an umbrella. This weekend we took a day trip to Pamukkale on Saturday, which is a small town about twenty minutes from Denizli, a bigger city about 7 hours by bus from Ankara.
This week I made dinner (and dessert, obviously) with my friend Dilay, went to a different mall, saw the new X-Men movie with Nimet (SO GOOD), and wandered around Kızılay trying to find the right rooftop bar our friends were at. Work is still pretty uneventful but I've been reading Turkish poetry and listening to Turkish music for language
practice.

Friday I went to Kocatepe Mosque, the largest mosque in Ankara. I got there just as Jummah prayer was getting out, so hundreds of people were pouring out of the mosque. The outside architecture is beautiful, as was the muted blue and white.

 This is in Guvenpark, right by Kızılay Metro. The park was surrounded by police last week for the anniversary of the Gezi Park protests.

 Friday night my friend Nimet and I made dinner--layered potatoes, tomatoes, pepper and onions all baked in the oven. We ate it with rice, bread, and a yogurt-cucumber soup/sauce. Nimet also saved me with sucuk (sausage) sandwiches Sunday night when I forgot to eat dinner and the dorm cafe was closed.

 We took two overnight buses for our day trip to Pamukkale, one there and one back. We arrived at about 7 in the morning. Pamukkale means cotton castle, an accurate name for the white formations created by flowing mineral water. The main attraction is the travertine and pools of bright blue water that form huge steps. The water in the pools is not clear but the silt at the bottom is white and the water is warm. The travertine looks slippery but it is rough enough to keep you steady.
We walked through the pools up to the tourist trap of cafes, tiny museums, antique pools, and a fish pedicure place. Jen, Richard and I got our feet cleaned by tiny fish for 25 minutes. Afterwards we went hiking around the Greek ruins of a very well preserved amphitheater and a few different temples.  I wish my pictures from the mountainside had turned out a little clearer, the view was incredible.

 Doctor Fish pedicures

 The higher I went, the better the view, but the less-defined the photo.

We got caught in the rain (shocker) at the end of our hike, so we hid out in a cafe before we went back down through the pools. The sun actually came out after the thunderstorm, lighting up the travertine.
I spent more time in Kızılay on Sunday (the number of cafes/restaurants I've been to there never stops growing) after our second seven-hour bus ride in 48 hours.
Only two more weeks at TOBB Etu, and then I'm off to Istanbul and wherever else this country takes me.