ASIANOVERLAND.NET LONDON TO SYDNEY  DAY 305: URGUP TO ANKARA,  TURKIYE

Ankara is the capital of the ancient Celtic state of Galatia (280–64 BC), and of the Roman province of Galatia (25 BC–7th century). Ankara is ancient, with Hattian, Hittite, Lydian, Phrygian, Galatian, Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archeological sites.

The historical centre of Ankara is a rocky hill crowned by the ruins of Ankara Castle, rising 150 m over the left bank of the Ankara River, a tributary of the Sakarya River. There are well-preserved buildings of Roman and Ottoman architecture throughout Ankara, the most remarkable being the 20 BC Temple of Augustus and Rome that boasts the Monumentum Ancyranum.

The Ottomans made Ankara the capital of the Anatolia Eyalet (1393 – late 15th century), the Angora Eyalet (1827–1864) and the Angora Vilayet (1867–1922).

On the eastbound overland, our brake drums were gone completely, so I had to telex London for new brake drums, which arrived at Ankara airport a week later. No real time was lost though, as we didn’t have Iranian visas anyway, and it took me over a week to obtain Iranian visas for the punters (except the three Americans).

The punters on that eastbound overland trip spent the whole week in Urgup, Cappadocia, except for a day trip to Ankara to prove they were real people and not CIA agents, while I stayed in Ankara with the punters’ passports to hassle the Iranian embassy on an hourly basis, and await the brake drums.

Meanwhile in Urgup, our overland trip book records on 1 August, 1980:

“EVEN SUCH IS TOP DECK WHO TAKES IN TRUST

OUR MONEY, OUR TIME, OUR ALL WE HAVE

AND PAYS US BUT WITH URGUP AND BUS.

WHO, IN THIS SUNNED AND SHADED GRAVE

WHILE SANITY AND TEMPERS SLIP,

SHUTS UP THE STORY OF OUR TRIP.

BUT FROM THESE CARDS, THESE BOOKS, THIS DUST

OUR COURIER SHALL MOVE US OUT WE TRUST.”

↑ Day 304 ↓ Day 306