A TURKISH DELIGHT - DAY 17 – 26 NOVEMBER 2021 – Goreme (Cappadoccia) to Ankara

Last night when we had got back to the hotel after dinner we were told that hot-air balloons would be flying this morning. Apart from being late in booking a ride we also factored in the price. The 'experience' would have drilled a $250 hole in each of our pockets and that we decided was not worth it. The next best thing to do from being in a bucket flying over the town is to enjoy watching hundreds of balloons take off and fly into a far distance. There are many points in and around the towns of Goreme and Uchisar from where to watch the awesome sight of the balloons lifting off and flying past. We were told that the closest point for us to view the spectacle would be the sunset point. We were at the sunset point by a quarter to seven in the morning. It was freezing cold and a bit windy. A tea shop was open with a bonfire for those who wished to be more comfortable.

In the darkness we strained our eyes to see where the lift offs would be from. Now and then, jets of gas fire would give away the locations. We sighted at least four locations where balloons were lined up for take-off. The small slivers of daylight revealed a misty morning, which meant that the sightings wouldn't be so great. The balloons started taking off from multiple locations around the town before 7.30 am. The colourful balloons that look so attractive in photos do not look like that in reality on a misty morning. Their colours get 'shown off' only when the gaslight torches the inside of the balloon intermittently for hot air to keep the balloon sailing. From the sunset point we saw the balloons careening off. The wind took them further away from where we were. But their sheer numbers were stunning. A few balloons that were launched from behind us flew closer by. But they were few and looked dull. Balloons kept taking off till about 9.15 am. Even while at breakfast in the Terrace Café we had excellent views of the balloons flying close to our hotel.

The Caravanserai Hotel served decent breakfast and it was the same every morning. Besides the staple of leafy vegetables, olives, tomatoes, cheese, honey, breads, coffee, tea, jam and ham one could have eggs to order. We took our time over breakfast keeping in view the short drive we had ahead of us for the day. The fact that the 13 rooms of the hotel were fully occupied was evident in the Terrace Cafe where breakfast had been served. The tables inside were all taken and there was a lot of lively chatter. We spotted an Indian lady YouTuber getting her piece done in the Cafe. Once done with the breakfast we thanked the manager and owner of the hotel before shifting gears for Ankara.

Ankara would be the last city we would visit before returning to Istanbul to fly back to India. Goreme to Ankara is at a distance of a few km shy of 300. We had to 'backtrack' more than forty km before we got on to the Expressway to Ankara. There are alternative routes, one the expensive Expressway and the other the inexpensive highway. Naturally I chose the high speed, expensive Expressway. After Nevsehir the superb O21 and O20 Expressways unfolded like a flawless carpet. Three or four driving lanes, with an emergency lane and guiderails, the Expressway was fully fenced and grid separated. The maximum speed on the Expressway is 120 kph. Most cars do much above that and I was buffeted many times by heavier cars speeding by. On a section of the Expressway, where there was hardly any traffic in sight, I throttled up to 162 kph. That was way above what we had done so far. Far from scared of speed, I must admit that most roads I have driven on so far have not had the consistency to attain such speed safely. The O21 is a beauty and my small car, the Dacia Sandera Stepway, did not wobble one bit. If I had wanted, I could have further downed the accelerator. The magnificent road helped maintain an average speed of almost 100 kph and we reached our hotel in Ankara in exactly three hours. That too, after navigating the busy city streets of Ankara for the last ten km!

Our hotel was close to the Kizilay Square, just a few meters in a by-lane. We took all our baggage out with the intention of repacking and getting ready for the flight back to India. The check-in was efficiently handled by a smiling, masked lady. The manager came by too to thank us for choosing the hotel. Once we had redone the bags we thought of doing some sightseeing. There is not a lot to do in Ankara, but then it is a city that we had to look at too. At the reception we were told that it would be better to take taxis rather than drive because parking could be a problem in most places. As we got of the hotel and neared the Kizilay Square we were amazed by the sea of humanity in the city centre. Traffic moved very slowly and typical city driving was the norm; sudden shifting of lanes and some honking. A kind off-duty taxi driver and a passer-by got us a taxi after I showed them the route map on Google Maps. It was indeed difficult to communicate, as most taxi drivers were unable to comprehend even basic English. We managed the taxi ride to the lovely Genclik Park.

The Genclik Park is a 70 acre property in the heart of the capital city. The erstwhile location was a marshland and that was converted into a multipurpose park with swimming pools, open air theatre, coffee houses and tracks. There is now a cultural centre and a youth centre too. The lovely fountains in the main pool are in alignment with the Ataturk monument. Beside the Park is also an amusement centre with the rides getting plenty of patronage.

Efforts to do some more sightseeing was stymied by our inability to communicate properly with taxi drivers and hence, after a visit to the Genclik Park we returned to Kizilay Square by taxi. We had to seek help from another kind taxi driver near the Ankara Central station to hail a taxi. Enough was enough and we decided that the rest of the sightseeing would be done the next day in our car. The Kizilay Square was swelling by the minute. There were people everywhere and walking almost shoulder to shoulder. No social distancing could be observed anywhere. We happened to peek into Cadde restaurant close to the Kizilay Square as we were walking past. An amiable gentleman who was in charge of ushering in customers asked what we would like to eat there. We chose to have lentil soup and Beyti Kebab. The soup came with such a lot of accompaniments that I told the waiter that we had not ordered any salad. He said that all that was before us was free with a 15 TL soup! Veg kofte, fries, bread, salad plate of carrot, purple cabbage, corn with spinach and pickled dil with a large bowl of lentil soup. Paisa vasool!! Beyti Kebab is a Turkish speciality dish of ground meat cooked on a skewer and wrapped in lavash and topped with tomato sauce and served with yoghurt. That was awesome too.

To board a flight to India one has to fill up the Air Suvidha form. Besides a lot of information one has to upload passport copy, RTPCR test result of not more than 72 hours before flight time and vaccination certificate. Instead of doing it in Istanbul the day before the flight, we decided to do the test in Ankara. At the reception, we were told that the test could be done in the hotel and the result would be available within 5 hours. We booked an appointment for that to be done the next day.