Jan. 28, 2001

On the 26th Roshan and I took the 12:30 AM bus to Ankara. A sleepless 6 hours later, we were dropped off in the center of Ankara on a cold foggy/smoggy morning.

The American Embassy opened at 8:30 so I suggested doing some sightseeing. I hadn't seen an open cafe (or even a decent closed one) where we could sit and drink coffee so there was nothing better to do anyway.

We took a bus to Ulus and walked up a street occupied by several simit sellers and people waiting for busses. "People in Ankara get up earlier than people in Istanbul," I observed. "6:30 AM is probably the only time of day when Istiklal Caddesi is empty." We walked up a hill towards a fortress. It was a bit too smoggy for an impressive view of the city, but judging from what was visible, we weren't missing anything.

Ankara was a carefully planned city which just shows that nature has a better sense of aesthetics. As I looked at the ugly buildings and ramshackle houses, I couldn't blame Atatürk for choosing to spend his last days in decadent Ottoman Istanbul rather than his own Republican creation of Ankara.

We headed back down the hill and swung by Justinian's Column which was being restored and was half covered by plastic. The top half and its crowning stork's nest was visible.

Eventually we went back to Kizilay, the embassy area. Along the way I noticed that all the interesting, beautiful buildings were banks.

The embassy wasn't too thrilling. Afterwards, we bought tickets for the next bus out of Ankara which unfortunatly wasn't leaving until 1:30. We went hunting for food. In Istanbul, you can't walk 10 feet without passing several cafes, multiple doner places, a fast food restaurant or two, and maybe a restaurant boasting home cooking with women in traditional clothing making gozleme in the window. Up to that time, the only foods I'd seen in Ankara were bread and simits. Roshan led me to a street behind the main street which had several doner places. We found one that offered soup and then we had to go to a different one for lahmacun. We sat watching the Ankarites. They all seem very serious and quiet. "They work all the time," Roshan informed me. "That would explain the lack of restaurants, " I replied. "They all only have time for simits. On special occasions they splurge and get a doner sandwich."

I think Ankara is Istanbul's ugly sister (or brother). Basically, they are incomparable. Istanbul is beautiful, lively and talented. Ankara is not and has given up even trying to sparkle a little. Instead of trying to compete with brilliant Istanbul, Ankara has decided to stay ignorant, boring and slovenly.

Roshan told me that Ankara people don't like Istanbul people. I think it must be because Istanbul people are too frivolous. What a dismal life, you work all the time and all you get is simits. Istanbulus play all the time and then get to dance and drink all night.

We gratefully sped away from the city at 1:30. It was another long busride but the bus stopped for dinner at the Varan rest station up in the mountains, where we were advised to buy cheese. A few hours later, we arrived safely in Istanbul. We hadn't seen Atatürk's Tomb or the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (the main sights of Ankara) but we were in no condition to appreciate them anyway. We will see them when we go back to Ankara for Roshan's visa interview in Spring (Insalah).