We began our tour of Ankara with a visit to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. According to Wikipedia, "the museum has a number of exhibits of Anatolian archeology. They start with the Paleolithic era [8000 BC], and continue chronologically through the Neolithic, Early Bronze, Assyrian trading colonies, Hittite [1750-1200 BC], Phrygian, Urartian, Greek, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuq and Ottoman periods [1200-1923 AD]."
We then headed to the Attaturk Mausoleum, where we saw the changing of
the guard.
After these two impressive and solemn destinations, the tour guide shepherded us on the bus to start our trek to Cappadocia. We stopped for a quick lunch at a rest stop, where I got a dish of flavorful vegetables and meat topped with puffy cheese. When we arrived at our family-owned inn ("Old Greek House") in the village named Mustafapasa, I was delighted to see a momma cat and two fluffy
babies (only one is pictured here)! I promised myself to find them again later, as Mohamed and I were due to appear at the group dinner upstairs. The food was hearty and earthy, and I was certainly hungry. Unfortunately, the volcanic stone with which the building was made ("tufa") is a natural coolant, and I was shivering while I
waited and waited for the heater to turn on. No wonder they created underground storage systems with this stuff!
