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Day 4, Monday 6 October
Demora Hotel (2nd impression)…….. To get a better perspective on the Demora Hotel it’s necessary to know something about Ankara itself, strangely located in a narrow street with a little flat land available. Accordingly, Demora Hotel is an eight-story building perched on the hillside. It means that the entrance from the road itself is halfway up the building on level 4. This morning I’m no less impressed with the room but there is only a view across the street from here. Well, as I finish my written notes around 10am, we will find out what breakfast included means and we still have time since the dining room doesn’t close until 11am. It’s sure to be a buffet style. Arriving in the dining room, not even a photograph can prepare you for it. I would say there is everything here except a Thai curry. What an amazing sight, what variety! For example, I've never seen a honeycomb before dripping its contents into a pot. There’s warm food, cold meats cheeses, salads, jams, coffee and tea of many types. Wow!
Ankara Sightseeing…….. As we venture out it’s a second day of low cloud with some rain and much cooler. With so much effort put into section 1 of this tour, little has been done by me in planning an itinerary for Ankara. Katoon on the other hand has continued to state her case that there is plenty to do here. I guess we should make a start with the one location that really shouldn’t need an introduction.
Ataturk Mausoleum (Anıtkabir)…….. more. At reception we make enquiries as to the best way to reach Ataturk Mausoleum. We could take the metro but that means a bit of a walk. Instead I flag a taxi which shouldn’t be expensive and that’s correct. 20 Turkish lire are good value for the 10-minute journey. Arriving at the mausoleum there is no fee just a security check. You then need to walk up to the mausoleum which is located on the hilltop. The main structure lies at the head of a large walled parade ground connected to an avenue of trees known as Aslanli Yol (the Lion Road).
Ataturk’s resting place lies inside the main building, while the parade ground is lined with galleries which are divided into sections. It’s obvious that there is great attention to the life and times of Ataturk; and what a life it was. A time of dire struggle, the death of the Ottoman empire and the birth of modern Turkey. What has totally caught me unawares are the sections on Gallipoli 1915 and the War of Independence against Greek forces supported by the West. The museum sections contain so much information that two hours pass quickly and if you start to read all the available information it would take a lot longer. While I can skip over the struggles on the Gallipoli Peninsula to some extent, I cannot ignore the Independence War and the reforms of the Nationalists led by Ataturk in the 1920s without which, I believe, further wars would be inevitable and suicidal for Turkey. I also believe that Ankara was established in West Central Anatolia to be the seat of government out of harm's way: More questions than answers for me today. Finally, we stroll down the Lion Road where we’re greeted with the changing of the guard. Wonderful! now it’s obvious I can do a lot more with this important monument when I finally returned home and start building my webpages. There’s been such a lot to digest in this strange land.
Demora Hotel (2nd impression)…….. To get a better perspective on the Demora Hotel it’s necessary to know something about Ankara itself, strangely located in a narrow street with a little flat land available. Accordingly, Demora Hotel is an eight-story building perched on the hillside. It means that the entrance from the road itself is halfway up the building on level 4. This morning I’m no less impressed with the room but there is only a view across the street from here. Well, as I finish my written notes around 10am, we will find out what breakfast included means and we still have time since the dining room doesn’t close until 11am. It’s sure to be a buffet style. Arriving in the dining room, not even a photograph can prepare you for it. I would say there is everything here except a Thai curry. What an amazing sight, what variety! For example, I've never seen a honeycomb before dripping its contents into a pot. There’s warm food, cold meats cheeses, salads, jams, coffee and tea of many types. Wow!
Ankara Sightseeing…….. As we venture out it’s a second day of low cloud with some rain and much cooler. With so much effort put into section 1 of this tour, little has been done by me in planning an itinerary for Ankara. Katoon on the other hand has continued to state her case that there is plenty to do here. I guess we should make a start with the one location that really shouldn’t need an introduction.
Ataturk Mausoleum (Anıtkabir)…….. more. At reception we make enquiries as to the best way to reach Ataturk Mausoleum. We could take the metro but that means a bit of a walk. Instead I flag a taxi which shouldn’t be expensive and that’s correct. 20 Turkish lire are good value for the 10-minute journey. Arriving at the mausoleum there is no fee just a security check. You then need to walk up to the mausoleum which is located on the hilltop. The main structure lies at the head of a large walled parade ground connected to an avenue of trees known as Aslanli Yol (the Lion Road).
Ataturk’s resting place lies inside the main building, while the parade ground is lined with galleries which are divided into sections. It’s obvious that there is great attention to the life and times of Ataturk; and what a life it was. A time of dire struggle, the death of the Ottoman empire and the birth of modern Turkey. What has totally caught me unawares are the sections on Gallipoli 1915 and the War of Independence against Greek forces supported by the West. The museum sections contain so much information that two hours pass quickly and if you start to read all the available information it would take a lot longer. While I can skip over the struggles on the Gallipoli Peninsula to some extent, I cannot ignore the Independence War and the reforms of the Nationalists led by Ataturk in the 1920s without which, I believe, further wars would be inevitable and suicidal for Turkey. I also believe that Ankara was established in West Central Anatolia to be the seat of government out of harm's way: More questions than answers for me today. Finally, we stroll down the Lion Road where we’re greeted with the changing of the guard. Wonderful! now it’s obvious I can do a lot more with this important monument when I finally returned home and start building my webpages. There’s been such a lot to digest in this strange land.
Ataturk Mausoleum (Anıtkabir), Ankara
Museum of Anatolian Civilisations…….. more.
At around 2:30pm we decide to head for the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, again by taxi so covering two important sites today. Arriving at the museum on a small hill there is a fee of 36 Turkish lira but I believe it too important to miss. Inside the museum is a stone inscription hall then around the perimeter are exhibits and video presentations that begin with human occupation in Anatolia in the Stone Age then into the Bronze Age and progress through the development of farming and domestication of animals, through the development of civilisations and administrations into city states and empires. Each civilisation is classified and the exhibits presented chronologically. What is quite remarkable about the museum is the sheer quantity of precious artefacts, with few exceptions, all no more recent than the 4th century BC. This is a truly remarkable representation of the birth of civilisation.
The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Turkish: Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi) is located on the south side of Ankara Castle in the Atpazarı area in Ankara. It consists of the old Ottoman Mahmut Paşa bazaar storage building, and the Kurşunlu Han. Because of Atatürk's desire to establish a Hittite museum, the buildings were bought upon the suggestion of Hamit Zübeyir Koşay, who was then Culture Minister, to the National Education Minister, Saffet Arıkan. After the remodelling and repairs were completed (1938–1968), the building was opened to the public as the Ankara Archaeological Museum.
Today, Kurşunlu Han, used as an administrative building, houses the work rooms, library, conference hall, laboratory and workshop. The old bazaar building houses the exhibits. Within this Ottoman building, the museum has a number of exhibits of Anatolian archaeology. They start with the Palaeolithic era, and continue chronologically through the Neolithic, Early Bronze, Assyrian trading colonies, Hittite, Phrygian, Urartian, Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuq and Ottoman periods. There is also an extensive collection of artefacts from the excavations at Karain, Çatalhöyük, Hacılar, Canhasan, Beyce Sultan, Alacahöyük, Kültepe, Acemhöyük, Boğazköy (Gordion), Pazarlı, Altıntepe, Adilcevaz and Patnos as well as examples over several periods.
The exhibits of gold, silver, glass, marble and bronze works date back as far as the second half of the first millennium BC. The coin collections, with examples ranging from the first minted money to modern times, represent the museum's rare cultural treasures.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations reaching the present time with its historical buildings and its deeply rooted history was elected as the first "European Museum of the Year" in Switzerland on April 19, 1997.
Understandably another couple of hours are spent here before we head back down the hill on foot to look for an early dinner. It’s then back by taxi again to Demora Hotel.
The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Turkish: Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi) is located on the south side of Ankara Castle in the Atpazarı area in Ankara. It consists of the old Ottoman Mahmut Paşa bazaar storage building, and the Kurşunlu Han. Because of Atatürk's desire to establish a Hittite museum, the buildings were bought upon the suggestion of Hamit Zübeyir Koşay, who was then Culture Minister, to the National Education Minister, Saffet Arıkan. After the remodelling and repairs were completed (1938–1968), the building was opened to the public as the Ankara Archaeological Museum.
Today, Kurşunlu Han, used as an administrative building, houses the work rooms, library, conference hall, laboratory and workshop. The old bazaar building houses the exhibits. Within this Ottoman building, the museum has a number of exhibits of Anatolian archaeology. They start with the Palaeolithic era, and continue chronologically through the Neolithic, Early Bronze, Assyrian trading colonies, Hittite, Phrygian, Urartian, Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuq and Ottoman periods. There is also an extensive collection of artefacts from the excavations at Karain, Çatalhöyük, Hacılar, Canhasan, Beyce Sultan, Alacahöyük, Kültepe, Acemhöyük, Boğazköy (Gordion), Pazarlı, Altıntepe, Adilcevaz and Patnos as well as examples over several periods.
The exhibits of gold, silver, glass, marble and bronze works date back as far as the second half of the first millennium BC. The coin collections, with examples ranging from the first minted money to modern times, represent the museum's rare cultural treasures.
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations reaching the present time with its historical buildings and its deeply rooted history was elected as the first "European Museum of the Year" in Switzerland on April 19, 1997.
Understandably another couple of hours are spent here before we head back down the hill on foot to look for an early dinner. It’s then back by taxi again to Demora Hotel.
Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, Ankara
Demora Hotel (3rd impression)……..
After nearly 24 hours based at Demora Hotel, I can give my final opinion on my stay here. I conclude that the hotel deserves the rating afforded by Booking.com but unfortunately, I have to mark that down due to location. It’s just too far from the city and the metro station is quite a walk away. To what extent I can compensate for that tomorrow, I’m not sure. We’ll just have to see. My final comment relates to the internet connection which is slow and intermittent. So much for first impressions but I cannot really complain about value for money. An indication of my more relaxed demeanour comes from watching satellite TV. BBC World News will do for a start; or then again! Next Page.