Turkey Day 2 ... The Bosporus and Ankara

(Note:  I've added pictures to the last post, so I invite you to check it out).

Last night was fun!  8 of the 30 travellers met up in the lobby and the Neon tours shuttle took us to the Kervansarey Restaurant and night club where we were seated at a narrow banquet table.  The large room seated about 300 (a guess) around a small stage.  We were barely seated and the foot service began... no menu.  Just 2 choices.  Take it or leave it.  No point in asking the waiter about it.  He likely won't understand the question and we likely wouldn't understand the answer.  Demonstrations of belly dancing, other folk dancing and a few flaming knives being thrown here and there and we got ourselves a party.  Audience participation with the comedic singing act at the end and we can report we had a good time.

Mesmerizing!

The finale for these guys was the knife throwing

Very similar to Ukranian dancing

1000 words

The morning came quickly and our bags had to be set in the hallway by 7:30.  We were picked up by 8:00 and boarded a small ferry-like boat for a 1 hour cruise of the Bosporus Straight; a busy waterway that connects the Black Sea to the North with the Marmaris sea to the South which then leads to the Mediterranean.  Not only that, but the Bosporus Straight separates the continents of Asia and Europe.  We learned that the city of Istanbul spans 2 continents!

One of the many many palaces that line the Bosporus Straight

Out for some Sunday Fishing

Mwahhh ... the happy couple

 

A fort build in ~1645 to monitor the comings and goings on the canal.  Ship traffic is one way ... Southward in the morning and Northward in the afternoon.  The water itself has 2 currents in opposite directions with the saltier water in the lower depth.  

Now we head 450Km east toward continental interior and the capital of the country, Ankara.   I know eating turkey makes you sleepy, but driving through Turkey does the same thing ... well at least when you're short on sleep.  Vicky catnaps throughout the trip, occasionally waking up to take in the countryside.  Sometimes you feel like you're either in southern Alberta or driving the Coquihalla highway through BC. Bruce is more diligent and stays awake to take pictures.  Arid and semi-arid conditions, but no signs of irrigation.  The crops are mostly harvested and even the smallest town sports a minaret indicating a mosque.  

Familiar looking

Small town with Mosque

Every scrap of arable land is cultivated, some of it being pretty marginal according to Bruce.

Gladly, it's an early arrival at the hotel and we get to enjoy a HUGE suite in our hotel.  Dinner allows us to get to know our travelling companions more and we share stories of our past travels to places far and wide.

Tomorrow we are checking out a museum and the mausoleum of Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey.  Then to Capadoccia (pronounced Kap-a-dok-ya we learn).