Ankara

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Walking the Sights

01/09/2025

Once J arose from his slumbers in the Ankara hotel, we did our own walking tour around Ankara. We liked it as by far fewer tourists than Istanbul.

The Hittite symbols were once the Ankara emblem
The Ethnographical Museum which house Ataturk’s body until the mausoleum was built
And the man himself
And again. The Victory Monument. The folk at the bottom are 2 soldiers and a woman carrying a cannon ball to recognise the part women played in the war for independence
The Column of Julian was built to honour Julianus, the last pagan Roman emperor. He declared war on the Persians and passed through in 362. The city folk were so excited at his visit (all of them?!), they erected the obelisk. It is now in University grounds, but the nice guard let us through
Amphitheatre 2AD discovered 1982
The Temple of Augustus C2BC. An inscription is the most complete surviving copy of the Res Gestae Divi Augustus which describes his accomplishments. He wrote it himself!
It is on the list of the World Monuments Fund’s most endangered buildings
Another recently found Roman road
Melike Hatun Mosque, only opened in 2017. Complete with exhibition halls, a congress centre, civilisations museum, meeting halls etc. Oh and a 5 storey car park. I like the elegant lines of it.
Genclik Park / Youth Park constructed from 1936 was one of Tutkey’s first urban parks. This is complete with an amusement park, a pond a theatre and various halls and cafeterias.
We walked back in the dark through the market, which was being closed up. Much preferred to Istanbul’s spice market crowds

Supper local to the hotel. J keen, but I dissuaded him from the £30 (cheapest). bottle of wine. We imbibed back at the hotel room.

Ataturk Mausoleum and War of Independence Museum

02/08/2025

A 2.5km walk in a different direction to the Peace Park, which housed the Ataturk Mausoleum and independence museum. With all the recent travelling, I didn’t know what to expect as I’d not read up. Just knew the Aged Ps rated it and one of the motorhome repair guys said it was good.

Wow wow and triple wow. Perhaps we should experience more sights blind.

The Peace Park has trees gifted by different nations. Great Britain’s submission was a cherry tree

We climbed some steps between manikin still guards to the main square. Three corners displayed Ataturk’s state cars.

Two Lincoln and one Caddy. Beautifully restored. Two were armour plated after assassination attempts

Three different uniformed guards on duty; naval, army and air, I guess. They seamed to change the guard every 2.5-3 hours before total cramp set in. Seriously, the only movement was a slight rise and fall of their chests. Once in position, they were inspected … actually just their feet repositioned. I wondered if the inspector was tying their shoe laces together so they couldn’t move.

At one changeover, the Last Post was played. It always makes me moist
Tomb of a subsequent PM foreground and Ataturk’s Mausoleum
Our entrance and the Lion Walk
The mausoleum. But actually Ataturk’s body is below behind closed doors

The museum was free and the audio guide was only 36p. Totally NOT rip off the tourist. The gift shop and cafe were also very reasonably priced. Despite the queue, they controlled the speed of entry so it was manageable.

I knew how revered Ataturk was. Legally you can’t criticise him. And what an inspirational military leader he was. He’d figured considerably when we toured Gallipoli. At Amasya we’d seen where his manifesto was written and where he’d launched the Latin alphabet. There are images of him everywhere, with his blue eyes looking up as if he has divine inspiration.

This image had alienated me to be honest

Anyhow, I learned so much.

There were 3 large painted panoramas. One was Gallipoli, which we have visited.

I remember reading that Mustafa Kemal, before he obtained the surname Ataturk, inspired his forces by telling them it was their duty to die. Other soldiers would replace them to fight for the soil of Turkey
Only the yellow was left to the Turks

I had not realised quite how carved up Turkey was in 1919. And the citizens had no rights. The Sultan basically protected himself. Resistance was widespread but localised. Mustafa Kemal, war hero, consolidated efforts. The Greeks saw an opportunity to gain ground into Antalya which had been Greek centuries before. But Kemal coordinated the attack on Greek lines. Culminating in the population exchange of 1923/4. Atrocities committed on both sides, so I can completely now understand the Greek Turkish animosity that still exists. When we told Greeks we were coming to Turkey the standard response was a) why and b) be careful. Yet they share so much in cuisine and human nature. We have been bowled over by Turkish kindness and generosity.

The galleries and Audi guide told the stories of the wars and reforms really well. Ataturk (was given this name, when he introduced the law for everyone to choose a surname) was part of a government but had his enemies. There were various assassination attempts, but he died from sclerosis at 58. Apparently he like raki.

His legacy was total reform across all sectors. His main foci were agriculture, education and industry. Previously, Turkey had imported wheat. Women got the vote in 1930.

A snippet from a speech that I liked

Lunch in Ankara then a taxi (couldn’t find the correct bus stop) out to fetch Jez. The guys did so much work in such a short space of time. We didn’t mind handing over £1000 (in £4 notes) as they deserved it and have been such a pleasure to deal with.

We’ve decamped to a lakeside basic campsite to do laundry and sort ourselves out. Back to Ankara on Thursday as one of our rear airbags is deflating.

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