The trip here was pretty easy. I got a dolmus with a bunch of Taiwanese. I met Henry and Ivy Lee and he told me Turkish Air just started flying direct from Taipai to Istanbul so they got cheap fares. That also explains why there are so many here. The dolmus was to Nevsehir then it was Metro Bus to Ankara. The Metro bus only has 3 seats across so ya get heaps more space. The trolley dolly this time was a young boy and he was on the ball with drinks and coffee and cake. All very civilized We only had one stop for lunch so the trip just took 4hr.
The otogar (bus station) in Ankara is huge. Three levels high and there is a rain connection into town there. I wanted the train so I just followed the crowd. I asked for ticket to Ulus, the suburb I want, and he said upstairs to dolmus. I said no I want train. I have to change at Kizilay. He thought for a while then gave me a ticket. I went to the platform and there was a sign to Kizilay and an arrow so I thought I was in the right place. A train came to the other platform and a hot chick said something to me in Turkish, I said English. She said where are you going. I said Kizilay, she said this train. I jumped on with her and she looked after me. At Kizilay she asked if I was OK and I said I wanted Ulus and had to change to metro. She didn't seem to sure about that and came with me to the metro and asked a couple of young girls. They said this was the way so I thanked her and she left me with the young girls. At my stop the young girls said "you stop Papa". They all think Im their grand dad.
It is one thing knowing where you are , it is another thing knowing which way to go.. I was lucky and the exit I took was to a major street corner and they have the name on the streets here. I found my place on the map and worked out which way to go to get to the hotel I an looking for. Well the hotel I am looking for is not there, Or at least I couldn't find it. On the way back to another one nearby I looked up a side street and saw a hotel that looked dodgy enough to be my kinda place. I walked in and asked for a room. When I checked it we negotiated and I got an OK room for 120l for two nights.
That sorted I decided to head for the citadel. It is a major attraction and of course it is on top of the hill. It is just up the street from my hotel. Emphasis on UP the street. It is all up hill then there is the steps up. SOOOOOO many steps. There must be 20 flights of steps. The citadel is really a bit of a slum now. It is supposed to be from 7th to 9th century but I think it has had some shoddy restos since then. A lot of the place looks like it is about to fall down. From up the top I spied a building that looked interesting.
To get there was down ALL those steps then UPHILL again. It turned out to be the Tomb of Augustus. I don't know which one. After going through the shopping centre for all the muslin stuff you could ever need I got there. I went into the tomb and it was full of women praying and I wasn't sure I was allowed in so I took a couple of photo's and got out. When I was looking around I found on the other side a couple of escalators. Typical after I already walked up.
I am going to see Ataturks tomb tomorrow and gotta buy a train ticket to Istanbul.