More Family Time

Tyler, Sam, and Mitch have visited different areas around Ankara. Some of the same excursions were repeated both weeks, but Sam did some things Tyler and Mitch didn't do, and they also did some different trips.

All went to Ulus, one of the old parts of town, wandered the streets, bought some gifts, had lunch, and experienced "old" Ankara.

Sam with Ishan in Ulus.  Ishan is 64, and this is the first cross he's ever made-from Peggy's design-for us.  He's very proud of it, and his neighbor has a picture of the cross on his IPhone!

Mitch and Tyler having lunch in Ulus.

Trips to Goreme and the Cappadocia area are a must for travelers.  Gerks were in Goreme twice in a week, both times staying at the famed Flintstones Cave Hotel.  

Tyler and Mitch with Mehmet-manager of the Flintstones, tour guide, olive grower, Muslim, and all around great guy! 

Back in Ankara with Sam, we went to the Tunus area, walked along Tanali Blvd, ate at a small cafe we found and ended at a bar near the bus stop and had a traditional Raki drink.

The bar server explaining how to drink Raki-straight, with a water chaser, or with one ice cube and water added to make it "mother's milk," creamy looking now and supposedly so named by American service men who discovered the drink in Istanbul. That's Jan with us.

Tyler, Mitch, and I went to the Anatolian Museum in Ankara, where only 2 of 5 sections were open due to remodeling.  But, we saw lots of Hittite carvings, and Roman and Greek ruins and coins.  

This Hittite carving is about 5000 years old!!

On Saturday, we experimented and took the Fast Train to Eskisehir,  a 1 1/2 hour trip.   We really just wanted to ride in a super fast train, but we were pleasantly surprised with the town that was just beautiful and made for tourists.  We walked along their "river walk," complete with tour boats and gondolas (no singing Italians), ate these delicious cig borek (large puff pastry type sopapilla stuffed with meat), walked through markets and shoe maker/repair shops, and just had a good time.

The monitor shows 253 kilometers per hour. That's 150 miles per hour!  It's an electric train and so quiet and very, very smooth on the tracks.  

Our last lunch out. 

As with every adventure, the unexpected seems to make the story richer with time.  Sam's plane was broken in DC and he got bumped and got here 4 hours late, with his luggage about 30 hours after that.  Tyler and Mitch got delayed in Munich on their return, and didn't get their connection in Toronto.  They had to spend the night and were a day late getting back to Boulder just arriving in the last hour or so. Plus, there are stories that only they can tell, and probably some involve making fun of me.   

It was great for us to see "the boys", especially all together in Istanbul, and we've now caught our second wind to make it the next 2 1/2 months until our summer break begins.