Ankara

Our bus arrived in Ankara in the late evening. We took the subway into the busy city to find our hotel. The Turkish people were so helpful along our whole trip as we tried to find hotels, people's homes, and bus stations.

This is a view of Turkey's countryside from our bus ride to Ankara. The mosques stand out in each village/town.

This is downtown Ankara, Turkey's capital.

Apartment homes

A lovely neighborhood.

Our hotels all provided us with breakfast. We enjoyed hard-boiled eggs, sliced cucumber and tomatoes, olives, breads, an orange beverage and tea. Oh, and corn flakes.

This is Ataturk's mausoleum. Paul likes to boast that we have seen the tombs of 4 original heads of state. Ho Chi Min, Chairman Mao, George Washington, and now Ataturk. Ho Chi Min and Mao were neat because we actually got to see their preserved bodies. Below is Ataturk's tomb...

I'm not sure if his body is actually in there. I thought I read that that is a solid piece of marble. Not sure.

Guarding the mausoleum together.

So there's this castle... It's behind the street light there, up on a hill. We climbed that hill and my shins and hips hurt for several days. It was quite steep and had lots of stairs (and I've been sedentary all winter). So, we never actually found a castle. There was a castle wall and a little village inside.

We tried to search around for a castle, but some young girls shook their heads at us like, "Don't go any farther." So we started down the hill in search of a museum that was supposed to be pretty neat.

Where are we again?

We got to the museum too late, even though the sign said it should still be open. In our search for it, we actually walked right by it without knowing.

We are outside an international church.

Inside before it started.

Church security... The man on the left has metal detector wand and the man on the right (was a visitor) has a gun on his hip. The rightside guy didn't end up staying for the service.

We were invited in to the kitchen at a restaurant. A group of ladies were making little raviolis.

Little ravioli. I think they were called mandi, or something close to that. Sorry I can't remember exactly, but they were good. Once cooked, they were topped with a yogurt and tomato sauce.

An apartment building near the restaurant and church.

An international school we toured. It was very nice.

Inside. 30% of their students are Korean. Super neat for our family.

Getting on the overnight train to Izmir - a 14 hour trip.

Our own little room

The hallway of sleeper cabins.

Using a squatty potty on a moving train... Not easy.

I felt like I was in a movie in the dining car. I didn't know they really existed.

Time to 'sleep'. Not a solid sleep with the rocking and clanging, but the time passed quickly.

A small town along the way to Izmir. See the mosque?

Welcome to Izmir.

What these pictures don't show are the long, interesting conversations we enjoyed with families who have lived there many years. They were so kind and gave us a lot of insight on living and serving there.

Next will be a tour of Izmir and a day trip to Ephesus...