Today was a super long day but a great one! We started out early to see a bit of Ankara before we leave today for Cappadocia. First stop was an off the itinerary stop at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. Way back it won best museum in Europe and it's so clear why, particularly as they have just finished completely renovating it. What a stark contract between this and the archeological museum in Istanbul. Some really spectacular stuff. This topper of a staff used in worship was one of my favourite items in the museum.
There are two Geocachers on our tour and they came back saying they had found one right near the museum. We were all very curious so we all wanted to se where and what it is... so they gave us the coordinates and hint and we started looking. Dale found the tiny geocache. In the photo too is Mete our leader who signed the geocache saying the Absolute Turkey Tour had found it too.
From there we headed to Anitkabir the mausoleum for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Leader of the Turkish War of Independence, and Founder and First President of the Republic of Turkey. Really beautiful museum and all the work he did in such a short period of time. Really inspiring. It's much bigger than it looks in the photos!
Quick stop for lunch where a few of the tour members decided to go for a swing while we waited for our lunch!
We were then on the road for five hours heading for Cappadocia. We did stop briefly at a beautiful salt lake. Lots and lots of salt! Followed by another stop at for ice cream, yum!
We then headed to our hotel... Which well, it a bit of a reality check since the last one... besides the no A/C, The room is a bit bigger than a closet with two single beds almost mushed together... although the funniest thing is the TV remote is 1/3 the size of the TV screen. CRAZY! Not that we are going to be watching much TV. Certainly no tub!
After dropping all out stuff of we headed for dinner with a Turkish family. It was FREAKIN' delicious! We had great herb salad, traditional cheese pastries, tomato and wheat soup, eggplant stuffed with minced beef, and baklava. Food was so tasty and the family so welcoming. BEST dinner to date! First photo is the view from the room we ate dinner in.
Now off to bed because I need to be up and ready for 5am start for the balloon ride.
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