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Showing posts from October, 2015

Ch 34, Day 5: A Preserved Old Town

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  11.7 kms, Oct 4, 2012 The Traveler continues on north into the quiet hill country of northern Turkey. In Cinkiri he stops for his favorite breakfast, menemen (scrambled eggs and tomatoes). The owner is eager to meet a foreigner and tries to talk the Traveler into sharing a business venture, 50/50: a restaurant in the USA... In Cinkiri, the Traveler is encounters a very refreshing surprise: Climbing up a hilltop park at the edge of town he's surprised to see: there's an entire neighborhood that still keeps that traditional Ottoman style, with tiled roofs and half timber houses. And these are not the crumbling structures of the half empty villages of the plateau. People are actually trying to preserve the feel of Turkey of the past—not for the tourists to see, but just because they want to. It's something he has seen very little of in this country... and thoroughly enjoys enjoys exploring it. He stops in another backroad village Kursunlu, then on to the peaceful city o...

Ch 34, Day 6: Turkey's Capital

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  29 kms, Oct 6, 2010 Today the Traveler takes a detour from his eastward Journey, for an obvious reason: north of Aksaray is Turkey's capital: Ankara, a city he must experience. Of course, Ankara is really only Turkey's political capital. The economic, cultural and historic capital is, of course, Istanbul. The Traveler expects Ankara to be a grand city nonetheless. He arrives at a massive, multi-story bus station, with skyscrapers visible on the horizon. With a population of 5.5 million people, it is the biggest city of the Traveler's Journey so far. He exits the station and under an 8 lane freeway, and soon finds himself in a shady, upscale neighborhood of modern apartment buildings, clinics and restaurants. Not far away is the most important site that the Traveler really wants to visit: the Ataturk Mausoleum. In almost every town throughout his Journey, the Traveler has come across a monument to Ataturk. One local fellow sums it up: “In studying the history of Turke...

Ch 34, Day 7: Approaching the Industrialized Northeast

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  14.6 kms, Oct 5, 2012 Bolu is an large city, with a long, lively pedestrian street being built--and a couple of hotels... but all are either closed, full or very expensive. The Traveler ends up walking all the way to the other side of town and back not really able to enjoy the experience as he's not very happy with the prospect of having to cough up extra money for a pricey hotel. Just when he was telling himself how easy Turkey is to travel around... he's got this. And it's frustrating to know that there are cheap hotels here somewhere and he's just not able to find them--or find anyone who can direct him to them. Finally he makes a last ditch attempt, and goes back to one of the hotels that is full, and tries to explain that he needs directions to the cheap hotel area. Finally he get the message across and... sure enough... down a back alley he finds just the kind of hotel he's looking for. Next morning he meanders through the market area/main mosque/plaza, t...