Walking the Streets of Ankara

A typical downtown street. There are signs for everything, everywhere. There are also lots of people, which is a really welcome sight for me.

I’ve only been in Ankara for a few days and I’ve been a bit lethargic.  Since I have two and a half years here, there’s no rush to go out and see everything, or frantically pack a month’s worth of fun into 36 hours like we frequently do on port calls.  I’m not really used to the slow pace I’ve been keeping the last few days, but hopefully soon I’ll fill my schedule with things to do.

So, what have I been doing?  Mostly just walking around and getting to know the city.  When I was here in March, the mountains were still capped with snow and the whole city had a gray, dingy feel to it.  I wasn’t exactly excited about returning to such bleakness.

This week, however, it’s beautiful.  Even at 33-34 C (the low 90s in F), the sun feels good, the sky is blue, and there are smiling, happy people out and about.  My years in San Diego converted me into a fair-weather everything, and I’m really thankful that I’m starting this adventure at such a beautiful time!

Of course, to get the most of the weather, today I tried to walk from an office back to the hotel, which is mostly uphill. 

I did find a nice park with a swan pond which was a pretty chill place to relax for a while.  Needless to say, the heat became more oppressive the more I walked, and I finally succumbed to getting a taxi.  Luckily, they’re really cheap here.