It seems bizarre, but the two-hour time difference between Munich and Ankara seems worse than longer time differences I have experienced. We did not get going until late and the day’s planning was also affected by the fact that I have to be back to the apartment and ready for a 9:00 pm Zoom with UMass Dartmouth. But, with that said we decided to hit the two Ankara sites that everyone says is a must– The Ataturk Mausoleum, and Ankara Castle.
We arrived at the mausoleum with the expectation of Tommy filming his next overseas news installment for his school television station. Before leaving the apartment I had read about the Turkish government cracking down on journalists and Tommy was going to learn first hand.
To enter the mausoleum everyone must go through security. When Tommy and went in they took Tommy’s backpack and confiscated his camera, tripod, and official NMES News microphone with Logo. They do allow cameras and cellphone video, but for some reason, his news-looking equipment set them off. They gave us a slip and promised we could have it back when we left (and they did).
Once we made it up to the site it was very impressive and has the feel of a much older monument than it is. We did some filming, but after the issues with security Tommy did not want to do any on-camera filming. We took some “B roll” and watched as hundreds of other people filmed and took pictures freely.
Suddenly as we stood on the steps, the security team moved everyone aside and we ended up at the front of the crowd for the formal changing of the guard. It was both impressive and a little bit scary. I am glad we got to observe it, but until we knew what was happening our hearts raced for a bit. We left the mausoleum area and headed for the site I was most excited to see. A truly old part of Ankara- the Castle.
The views from the Castle were fantastic and the little village around it looked and felt like I had imagined Turkey would. The part of Ankara we live in is not old and it has a bit of a “western” feel so this was an exciting change. We spent a lot of time exploring the castle itself and then the village surrounding it. Once hunger got the best of us we found a tiny restaurant and went to eat. They were almost out of food so we just ate what they gave us: bread, ground meat on a skewer, and amazing hot peppers. I ate the peppers with the bread and when I ran out of peppers I dipped bread in the super-hot pepper juices. The owners smiled broadly and brought me another cup of the peppers and more bread. My stomach was on fire, but I could not be a rude tourist, so I got them down.
As the day ended we took a cab back for some more homework with Tommy and my 9:00 pm meeting. Don’t tell anyone I’m regularly working on day-to-day schoolwork during my sabbatical!!
Click on the above YouTube for Tommy’s NMES News video on Turkey
