I really like how the mausoleum looks in person
29th of November 2021
Visiting Turkey’s capital wasn’t always on my bucket list.
The idea of going there crossed my mind when I realised that I don’t know when I would be in Turkey
again or whether I would come here again at all.
Another thing that kind of prevented me from seeing Ankara was that literally
nobody recommended going there - both locals and my international friends.
Luckily, in the end none of the above “obstacles” prevented me from visiting this
lovely city and I don’t regret it at all.
I found cheap direct flights with Turkish Airlines, got two of my friends to come
with me, booked an apartment and two weeks later we set foot in Ankara.
As pretty much always, I had prepared a map with locations and places I wanted
to see; to be honest there wasn’t a lot of places but looking back, it was more than enough.
To get from the airport to the city centre you can take a bus which is the cheapest choice and doesn’t take that long. In the city centre we immediately bought public transport cards (Ankarakart) and topped them up. Ankara has a subway system consisting of two lines, as well as plenty of bus routes and the Ankarakart can be used on all of them.
Having checked in to our apartment we decided to just go out and eat something. After that it was already late in the evening so we agreed that it would be better to stay in the apartment, chill out with a bottle of wine and wake up early the next morning. The only problem was that we didn’t take into account that not all supermarkets sell alcohol and it was already late, so we spent our first night sober.
The next day we woke up early, and went to Anitkabir — a mausoleum where the body of Mustafa Ataturk is kept. It’s much bigger in person that you’d think looking at the pictures. Other than that, there were a lot of rather uptight security guards everywhere. Upon entering we had to put our bags through an X-Ray scanner and I wasn’t allowed to take my backpack with me, because apparently it was too big. I laughed when I was told that. Luckily I could leave it in a special locker and get it back later. Maybe if I spoke Turkish (or they spoke English at least a little bit) I could convince them to let me keep it with me.
When we left Anitkabir and I got my backpack back, we took a taxi to a museum of modern art called Cermodern. I really liked it, the exhibitions were interesting and creative and they had a restaurant so we could also eat something. You should go there even if you are not into art.
Later we went to the Ankara Castle but it was raining cats and dogs there, so we gave up on walking around and headed to the Ulucanlar Prison Museum, a former prison in Ankara, now open to public. I wouldn’t want to be locked up in there, due to harsh conditions, no heating and poor quality of beds. But from a perspective of a tourist it was an interesting experience, there are wax figures of inmates, a lot of prison-related props and tea kettles everywhere. There are some cells with wax people who are telling stories, talking and sometimes screaming which helps you feel like it’s an operating prison and not a museum. At the moment of writing this I also found out that for an additional payment you can be handcuffed and locked up in there for either 15 minutes or an hour.
In the past, the prison also performed capital punishment by hanging. Nineteen executions took place in total.
It was getting dark when we finished our tour. We decided it was a good time to visit the Kocatepe Mosque, the largest mosque in Ankara. While one of my friends was preparing for a prayer, me and my other friend were approached by the main imam. He was really friendly and when the prayer finished he invited us to his office, offered us tea and we had a nice chat. At the end he told us he had gifts for us and gave us an English version of Quran along with some books which encourage converting to Islam. We were really surprised but little did we know it wasn’t the end of surprises for the evening. The imam asked us if we want to go to the top of one of the minarets. Long story short, a couple of minutes later I had an amazing view of the city from a place where pretty much no other tourist set foot in.
When we got out from the mosque, the sun had already set and we decided to go shopping and later rest in our apartment. At least that night we remembered to get some wine.
On the following day we didn’t have as much time, because of our flight in the evening.
We went to a shopping mall next to the Atakule (the Atakule itself was closed due to an ongoing renovation).
I found a place that sold 0 euro notes, which I immediately bought. After we had finished walking
around the mall, we took a taxi to the Ankara Castle - it was sunny so we couldn’t miss it.
The castle wasn’t really extraordinary but I don’t regret going there.
With a couple of hours to spare, we decided to go to the Altinkoy Open Air Musem where you can find traditional Turkish village houses, some livestock and where you can basically walk around in a less urban environment. I found the place really relaxing.
And that marks the end of my trip to Ankara. If you are in Turkey and have some time, feel free to go there. It’s less crowded and “dense” than Istanbul and there is plenty of stuff to do so you won’t get bored.
If you have any questions or need advice, please drop me an email at contact@mtthw.net