Our time in Turkey has been wonderful so far, and it's not even over yet. We stayed in Istanbul for a few days and did some sightseeing while planning the rest of our time here. I definitely wanted to go to the Cappadocia region; the rock formations looked amazing. Another city that looked interesting was Selçuk, as it is home to the ruins of Ephesus. We supposed that a stop in the capital city would be worthwhile, but shortly debated skipping it. Good thing we didn't.
Ankara turned out to be a very nice city, with lots of interesting museums and places to wander. But the main reason I loved Ankara so much came from the family we stayed with.
Candost was technically our host, but as he lives with his parents the whole family because our hosts. Candost goes to university but this is their two week break period, so he had lots of time to show us the interesting things around his city. He put together a list, and one by one we checked the destinations off it. We started with Atakule Tower, where we could see all of Ankara.
The Anatolian Civilizations Museum was next, where he patiently waited for me to finish reading everything and taking lots of pictures.
He drove us through the twisting back alleys on our way up to a high hill, where remnants of a castle stood.
We visited Anitkabir twice, and the second time his mom came with!
We sat together in the beautiful Kocatepe Mosque and enjoyed the silence.
We entered the 'jungle' of Tunali Street, where it's a constant traffic jam with pedestrians constantly crossing the road.
His parents are terrific. His mom, Aynur, made us dinner the evening we got there. It was 10:30pm and she still threw together tasty pide for us to eat! That was just the beginning, too. Every morning we all ate Turkish breakfasts together, consisting of bread, cheese, olives, peppers, omelettes, and Turkish tea. Every evening Aynur made delicious meals, with soup (yogurt with rice and mint, yogurt with thyme, lentil, and tomato), bread, salad, cheese, peppers, tomatoes, meatballs, rice pilaf, chicken, potatoes, cheese samosas, and more I can't even remember. One night for dessert Aynur whipped up a homemade tiramisu, and every dinner was followed with Turkish tea and fruit. She would often override (or selectively not hear) our protests that we were too full for thirds or fourths and continue piling food on our plate. It was so good we always finished it, regardless of how stuffed we were!
Kadir, his dad, told us about how both he and his wife are retired microbiologists. He was a boxer in high school, and pictures of him with an arm raised in victory in the ring adorn the wall near the stairs. He was concerned when we told him of our plans to visit Göreme. He assured us that it was all closed and it was far too cold; I think they just wanted us to stay longer. (Although he was right - lots of the town was closed and it was really cold!) But, he knew we were going there next, and so he gave each of us one of his old warm winter coats; mine is bright orange. It has been invaluable!
One thing that makes Turkey so great, beyond the beautiful land and most delicious food, is that the people are extremely welcoming, friendly, and willing to help. Candost, Aynur, and Kadir were the epitome of this Turkish hospitality, and meeting them definitely made my trip to Ankara (and Turkey) better. Before we left, Aynur and I hugged. "I love you!" she said. "I love you too! You're like my Turkish mom." "Yes!" she replied. A great family, and I'm so glad we were fortunate enough to meet! :)