January 16 to 31 - more Ankara explorations

For more pictures of Ankara, please see: http://www.anatolianphotos.shutterfly.com/

Darn. Our trip to Cappadocia Jan 30/31 was canceled. Seems Larry and I were the only intrepid souls ready to travel to that wonderland in the winter. We had been to Cappadocia twice many years ago, but there were a lot of places there that we never got to see on our previous visits. Besides, we were advised that it is particularly beautiful, and not as crowded, in the winter. But the weather finally turned to winter in central Anatolia and nobody else wanted to go. In December, when Anna was visiting, we also tried to sign up for the same tour (different dates), but it, too, was cancelled. All that is available these days of organized tours by our favorite travel company, Tempo Tur, are ski trips, because there is plenty of snow around—except in Ankara. Alas, we don’t ski. We can, of course, visit Cappadocia on our own. But, since the area is mostly an outdoor museum, we don’t relish wandering around on our own in the cold, even if getting lost is often part of the fun of traveling. We’ll wait for the next guided tour, or for warmer weather—or both.

For nearly all of this winter so far, the temperature has hovered in the mid 40s. The sun seldom, although occasionally, makes an appearance. It is gloomy and cool. But, I keep reading about the horrible New England weather this winter and thank heavens for small favors. The weather has enabled us to make frequent visits to the Anittepe outdoor gym. A few days ago, though, the temperatures dipped into the low 20s, with single digits at night, thereby bringing a halt to our physical fitness program (and cancelling that Cappadocia trip). After the freeze, we also had some real snow—not a blizzard by any means, but a good three to five inches in Ankara. As in any city, snow removal was spotty and, eventually, it all turned to mush. But it reminded us that people meant it when they said, yes, Ankara has a real winter. This winter just turned out to be exceptionally mild. They say Turkish hospitality is second to none; even the weather has accommodated us for most of the winter.

With the change in the weather, and the cancellation of our planned trip this week, we decided to explore some more of what Ankara has to offer. One evening, our friend, Meldan, and her brother, Ercan, invited us to join them and a group of friends to a symphony concert at Bilkent University. When we lived there in the 1990s, we attended concerts in that beautiful hall on several occasions, once sitting a few rows behind, of all people, Mikhael Gorbachev. We recognized him at the time by the large birthmark on his head, as well as the armed guards everywhere.

The concert hall and foyer are as beautiful as ever—marble floors, light wood, polished brass railings, sparkling chandeliers. No armed guards this time, although, as with most cultural places in Ankara, we still had to go through security screens.

Ercan drove us there a bit early, so we went to the Mozart café for a bite to eat. I had forgotten about this café, but immediately recognized the long curved windows when I walked in. This brought back memories for both Larry and me of coming here with Anna when she was little and buying a very expensive cupcake! While eating our not so expensive, but awful, kebabs (this café has gone quasi American, but even in the U.S., we don’t DEEP-FRY our kebabs. Yuk!), we were approached by a woman and her son with whom we had hiked on our rainy trip to Yedigoller National Park. We see them now and then on the streets of Bahcelievler, as they too live in our neighborhood. Guzide (the mother) mentioned that the oboeist in tonight’s concert is her cousin. Little did we know that he would solo an entire three-movement concerto. I had never heard an oboe soloist before, at least not an entire solo piece. He was terrific, playing "Obua Koncertosu No. 1, Re minor." (Anyone know what "Re" is?) The rest of the program was the full Bilkent symphony’s rendition of selections from Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and the Nutcracker Suite. They were terrific. Except, whenever the music got loud, it got muddy. I wondered whether this was an acoustics problem in the hall, or a problem of conducting.

Scanning the program, which was in Turkish, we discovered that these concerts, which are very inexpensive, about $8 each, occur every weekend during the academic year! Someone also translated for us a paragraph about a free service bus that takes people from downtown Ankara and from our neighborhood (!) to and from the concerts each week. So, the next week, I sought out a Biletex kiosk in a downtown Ankara bookstore, where a clerk helped me select tickets for the next concert (the instructions were in Turkish). Then Larry and I tried to figure out where to catch this free "concert bus." Anna and I had tried unsuccessfully to find other free Bilkent buses last month. This time, we were determined to figure out where to find the stop; it had moved from its normal location due to construction in front of the National Library, where most buses still stop. Seeking information on the Internet about Bilkent bus routes, I found a cute little animated map, which showed a bus travelling through the city, and stopping at specific places. This gave us an idea of where to go (behind the library, not in front of it). In addition, an online question form on Bilkent’s web site elicited an email giving us an exact address.

Success! We found the bus stop, boarded along with a dozen other music lovers, and got dropped off at the main entrance to the concert hall. Then, at the end of the concert, the bus brought us back to our neighborhood, where we walked the remaining fifteen minutes home. In a city with four million people, we feel very fortunate to have picked one of only three neighborhoods where the "concert bus" picks people up and drops them off.

The second concert featured works by Dvorak (Serenad, Re minor, Op. 44 and Senfoni No. 6 Re major, Op. 60), and a flute concert by C. Nielsen, featuring the famous flutist, Emmanuel Pahud, all conducted by Klaus Weise. The loud bits weren’t muddy at all this time. I still wonder what the problem was last week.

With concerts held every Friday, and free bus transportation, we now know what we’ll be doing nearly every weekend when there are no trips planned. Also, at the concert, a Bilkent acquaintance brought us a copy of the program for the Presidential Symphony Orchestra’s weekly (!) programs at the symphony hall in downtown Ankara—a fifteen minute subway ride every Thursday. I’m in classical music heaven here in Ankara. Our acquaintance, by the way, said that this is one of the oldest orchestras in the world; the first conductor was a close relative of Donatelli. Or did he say Donazetti; I’ll have to look that up.

Besides concerts, our other Ankara explorations this week included visits to some of the museums in this, the nation’s capital city. In search of the Ethnographic Museum, which we never found, on one of the days when it was too cold to go to the gym, we stumbled instead on the first two parliamentary buildings in the Turkish republic. Built during the first few years of the Republic in the 1920s, each served successively as the central administrative and legislative centers of the new country. Architecturally they are distinct and described appropriately as "early Republic," and are somewhat reminiscent of Ottoman design. Both serve now as museums: The First Turkish Grand National Assembly (The War of Independence Museum), and The Second Turkish Grand National Assembly (The Museum of the Republic). The displays are well done but, as usual, my favorite part was the buildings themselves.

To round out the cultural stuff we’ve been doing in lieu of traveling, we attended a lecture at the American Research Institute of Turkey: "The Institute of Nautical Archaeology in Turkey and Cyprus: 36 years of history" by Dr Matthew Harpster (Department of Archaeology and Art History, Eastern Mediterranean University). He was refreshingly funny, as well as informative.

The rest of the time since our trip to Istanbul, was filled with future travel plans, including an upcoming trip to the southwest to visit nomad carpet weavers and see a camel wrestling competition, with our rug friend, Kadir Bey. Finally, another nice dinner at the Nelsons, where we met a new Fulbrighter as well as a former one, the latter visiting the area for a while. I plan to arrange a visit with the women of this group to the hamam in Old Ankara, once my rib is healed enough to withstand the vigorous washing by the legendary hamam attendants. Should be fun—Insallah.