Ankara
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
Street Art - Ankara
Before coming to Ankara (The Capital of Turkey) we had read in several guide books that it was not all that great. Coming here with low expectations has been something of a godsend. So far Ankara has really exceeded all my expectations. Despite being inland its been cooler and the air is much dryer. I guess this is because its quiet high. I think its around 1000meters above sea level. This makes the city much more pleasant and the city has a real energy in the area we are staying Kizilay. It appears to be the main shopping, night club, pubs, restaurant area which gives you some amazing choice for what to do at all hours of the day. Its could have been unfortunate that we are on a tight budget except for the fact that all the food etc here is so cheap. 2TL for a Chicken Donner kebap is just one example.. that’s around 70-80p or around 1euro. Ankara feels very young and happening, Istanbul on the other hand was very relaxed but it felt much more established as a city. I would recommend anyone travelling through turkey to spend at least a few days here, even if its only to relax before going on to other destinations. Apart from that we walked around the city and didn’t really see much that was of interest to us.. except all the shops and places to eat 🙂
Kocatepe Camii Mosque - Ankara
The reason we came through Ankara was actually so that we could get the bikes serviced and buy new motorcycle tyres. We took in the R1200GS first then when that was complete the F650GS Dakar. Both bikes got done at
Borusan Oto Çankaya
Uğur Mumcu Cad. No: 8 06700 G.O.P. Ankara
Tel: 
+90.312.459 8080
Fax: 436 4010
cankaya@borusanoto.com
However their service centre is not at that location as we found out the hard way. The service centre is at the following address
Borusan Oto Servis Tic. AŞ
Birlik Şubesi
Birlik Mah.7.Cad.No:43 06150 Çankaya ANKARA
Tel: +903124541500
They can supply Metzeler tyres at reasonable prices based on what we found while searching around. For a pair of Karoo tyres it was 250e which was more expensive than the UK but cheaper than many other places in Turkey. If you need more than one set you can negotiate.
Heather not exercising and gettnig a few spare tyres
All up the level of their service was excellent. Anyway enough about the service. We thought that the driving in Istanbul was nuts.. and it is.. however in Ankara nobody gives a shit about red lights.. It seems that red just means go.. Couple that with the fact that the roads here are soo slippery from the light dust its like riding on glass.. There have been several hair raising moments where the back wheels have slid out.. Thankfully we have not had any accidents yet (touch wood)… Its something that came as a bit of a shock to Heather when she was doing a U-Turn for the first time..
Anyway there has been very little happening over the last few days.. more to come soon!
