Chores chores chores. Unpacked. Momentarily lost the V5 which would have put paid to Georgia and Armenia. But found once we cleared up.
Whilst I did a marathon laundry session, J cleaned insideA few gins (Dublin duty free) on a deck over the campsite lake followed by a BBQ.
Very peaceful. Just what we needed after such a busy 6 days.
Airbag Repair
04/09
Early up. Services and the best part of an hour back to Ankara. This time to fix our rear air suspension. I knew I was having to put air in more regularly, but one airbag had completely collapsed over the 6 days whilst we were away. The garage doing our long list of repairs had spotted it. They had arranged for us to visit an air suspension specialist. Just how helpful is that. Sure enough, one airbag was expelling air like a whale does water.
They took the wheel off and removed the airbag to fix it
A couple of hours later, they asked me to drive around the block. We hadn’t paid at this point … can’t see that happening in the UK. But my goodness the handling and smoothness over bumps is SO much improved. I guess with hardly driving Jez last year, I hadn’t really been aware of how bad it was. Fingers crossed it stays good.
We are now back touring. Stopped tonight a little off the main road in peace and quiet. There is a near train line, but the P4N entry says they are infrequent. They were also super friendly. They parped their horns and waved as they slowly trundled past.
Corrie able to be unchained and collecting fur burrsCorks. Yes, they deter fruit flies and flies
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 builtAnd the man himselfAnd again. The Victory Monument. The folk at the bottomare 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?!), theyerected the obelisk. It is now in University grounds, but the nice guard let us throughAmphitheatre 2AD discovered 1982The Temple of Augustus C2BC. An inscription is the most complete surviving copy of the Res Gestae Divi Augustuswhichdescribeshis accomplishments. He wrote it himself!It is on the list of the World Monuments Fund’s most endangered buildingsAnother 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 MausoleumOur entrance and the Lion WalkThe 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.
Another early start. And a day full of food. Breakfast at the hotel. Cakes and coffee at Istanbul airport lounge. Brunch on the plane Coffee and cake at the shopping centre whilst we waited for Delia to finish work. Dinner out at an Italian. No wonder all my clothes are tight.
Coming into DublinAnd the caravan repair sent a video to show all the body work has been done. Yay.
A Day in Dublin
We had a hire car so we left the still working Delia and Liam in bed. We went to Avoca handicrafts looking for gifts, but pretty useless. Then to the James Joyce Martello Tower in Dun Laoghaire. Fabulous little gem with informed delightful staff.
The 40 foot bathing placeIt does allow all genders nowAcross to Dun LaoghaireNot used to this wet stuffI went healthy for lunch. J didnt!
The whole purpose of this trip was to celebrate J’s sister Amelia’s 80th birthday. Two brothers had flown in from Chicago. Sadly Amelia is in a nursing home and didn’t feel she could cope with a meal out. All the sibling’s visited her at the home.
The 6 Clune siblingsMeal out minus the birthday girl
From Dublin
Hire car dropped. Dublin business lounge was not up to much … no tonic water to go with my gin!!! Understandably closing today for refurbishment. We perched on a radiator at the gate for an hour and a half as the plane was delayed. Seems to be a thing that there are insufficient seats at gates.
Biz class starter, pud and cheese. Lunch was chicken and I imbibed champagne 😃Lovely view coming over Isanbul
Flight didn’t land until 2130. Istanbul international airport is huge. We walked for miles to passport control and then even further to the metro. We had 2 long train rides to our hotel, arriving gone 11 pm. Hoped the wine night cap would help us sleep but …
… but the duvet was too short, so a choice … cold feet or cold shoulders!
Back to Ankara
01/09/2025
Goodness first day of a new month! Hotel breakfast not up to much. Near the hotel we managed to buy new Turkcel sims as the Vodafone do not have a good signal away from towns. And get some cash out … PTT and Halkbank do not charge a withdrawal fee. We have paid £16 before we sussed which banks to use. 😮
All the work has been done on the motorhome, bar the motor for lifting the bed and the replacement step. The latter is in cargo. So we’ve booked a night in another cheap hotel and booked Corrie in for another night at the kennels.
We then had best part of an hour train to the train station for our high speed train to Ankara, arriving at 1520. A taxi to our 4th hotel. J napped and I washed out our smalls.
A lot of effort for such a short time with the family. And I was very sad not to see Amelia.
Up early to drop Corrie at the Perfendy Otel. The mechanic where Jez is going for work had arranged it for us. No cages or kennels. A yard for daytime and a bedroom at night. Corrie trembled when we arrived. She thought she was at the vet. Regular updates from the kennel. It took her a few days to settle. Her first time in kennels.
But on the last video she had made friends with a calm 3 legged dog!
Then a drive across Ankara to the motorhome repair shop. A straight wide and free flowing road. Rush hour didn’t seem to exist.
We spent a couple of hours going through the work using google translate. The head honcho was checking on the phone what could be out sourced. One of the mechanics kindly dropped us to our Ankara hotel. Dropping bags, we checked out the train station for tomorrow. A cheap taxi to near the Anatolian Museum of Ancient Civilisations for lunch. And then into the museum. Both feeling tired, we pretty much scooted through. Focussed on the Hittites treasures that had been found at the sites we have visited.
Supper near the hotel
Istanbul
28/08/25
0840 for the high speed train to Istanbul. Airport style passport checks. Allocated seats. Left and arrived on time to the minute. Only annoyance was no usb charging points, but we had a battery pack. Trolley and buffet car.
But we had our own snacksScenery got greener as we moved north
Istanbul was busy and a sensory overload. We were assisted by 2 locals to buy transport cards and then load money onto them. Metro to the old part of Europe Istanbul. Straight to a restaurant where we eventually managed to check in for our flights tomorrow. And to book a luggage storage in a nearby hotel.
Tbh we were not loving Istanbul. Too crowded. Too touristy. Reminded us of Marrakesh. We did a gps.mycity introduction walk which took us through the spice bazaar. Seething mass of humanity. J had to hold onto me so we didn’t get separated. Hated it.
Packed spice bazzaar
The main architectural sites were more open and calmer. We didn’t go into any as a) we were shattered and b) we knew it is a long way out to our near airport hotel.
A chap who offered to help us, said he was boss of city transport, said its much less crowded November and February / March, should we decide to return
In fact, we hadn’t realised just how difficult to get to our hotel. The super helpful chap in the hotel, where we had left our luggage, checked several routes and recommended 2 buses. He warned us that they would be busy and slow as 6 pm by now. They surely were. The whole journey from arriving at the bus station (on foot through the bloody spice market again) to the hotel was 3 hours. But at 40 lira each per trip, the total cost was about £3 for both of us. Driving direct 37km, but of course the bus wasn’t direct.
We’d gone past hungry so demolished a bottle of red in our room and flaked out.
We spent the morning at our lake pitch, doing jobs in readiness for our Dublin trip tomorrow. We’ve packed for Corrie for her 5 night stay in a Pet Hotel and two rucksacks for us.
The hand written sheet is details of our 3 hotel bookings, high speed train Ankara to Istanbul, flights Istanbul to Dublin and Dublin car hire. They are all held digitally but on email, WhatsApp and message.
After lunch we visited Gordion. This goes back to Hittites and was the capital of Phrygia. They both traded together until the Phrygians took over Hattusa, the Hittite capital. We didn’t visit the ruined fortress C9 BC, but the museum and Midas Tomb.
The museum flowed well and had English info boards. The pottery pieces are C6. There had been a fire at the fortress 800 BC and metres of clay were piled on top to make foundations for the new building, thus preserving artefacts often intact.
There are approximately 100 funeral mounds. Most were raided. The biggest, the Midas Tomb took 1000 men 2 years to construct. It is the 3rd largest in the world at 300m diameter and 55m tall.
Midas mound.
The Midas Tomb is now believed to be Midas’ father, Gordion, thanks to carbon dating of the bones. So c.740BC. It was one of the few to have not been robbed so even the funeral meal dishes were still there. Inside is the world’s oldest wooden building inside a mound. In fact, the world’s oldest standing wooden building. It is constructed from juniper and pine. The timbers have been standing over 2700 years. Turkish miners carefully constructed a tunnel for visitors. It was a bit of a wow moment.
Clune Gap Years 