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Do we really need all that food? |
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Finally, we get in the air and pass over
London's big white elephant, sorry, The Dome. [now O2, of course] |
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The sky looks much more
interesting as we approach turkey from the west. |
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My good friend and translator, Ebru, met
me at the airport as usual and brought me up to TRT's headquarters. |
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My view of TRT hasn't changed
much from my quarters. Still a pretty impressive building. |
The taxis are all yellow and
they all want your business. |
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The traffic lights
have displays to tell you how long till the next green phase. Good idea. |
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This gentleman was slightly suspicious of
me; perhaps because I was taking a picture behind my back to avoid
attention. Failed there then! |
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Part way up the long (very long)
hill from the city centre to TRT is this shopping mall with a 150 foot
tower sporting a rotating restaurant on top. |
Inside, all is calm, potted
plants and escalators and designer shops. Not the biggest Mall in town,
but a welcome warming point on my cold walk from town. |
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|
On the other side
of town, there's the old city, small and clinging to a hill as many old
cities do. In 1930 or so, the population of Ankara was about 30,000. It
now stands at 3 million. |
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Clearly, building standards vary
from Western standards. |
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I took a trip to the Mausoleum
for Ataturk, Turkey's founder and hero. Created in a grandiose style, it
is a contrast to much of the Ankara that I had seen so far. |
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These three gentlemen stand guard
as one enters from the car park. |
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This is the beginning of the
long, long walk to the Mausoleum proper. |
| Here is the big 'M'
with a few humans to help realise the scale. |
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Inside, a lone soldier guards the
tomb of the known warrior; Ataturk. I came to understand that he did a
great deal to help Turkey recover from the ruins of the Ottaman Empire. He
travelled widely in Europe and tried to introduce the best of West
European ideals. |
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This plaque tells a little more
about the great man. |
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This is the all wooden rowing
machine that Ataturk used in his furtherance of fitness in the 1920's. |
