Adana to Ankara - Day 24 - Saturday 20th September 2025 - Balkan-Georgia Trip - Day 24/34 - City 18/22 - country 9/11
- eusts6
- Nov 14, 2025
- 3 min read
We went down to the breakfast room. It had large windows overlooking the street, which was entertaining. However, coffee was a problem as they had cheap instant coffee sachets, which didn't really do it for me, but I drank the Turkish tea, which was in abundance. While sipping the tea, I realized just how close we were to Syria; it was just a two-hour drive away.
We had a few hours after breakfast to tour the city by foot, buying local treats and snacks for the long bus journey. I was acutely aware of how deep I was in the Middle East, as this place had a completely different feel compared to Istanbul with its tourists and all the trinket shops.
I don't have photos, but one memory is of people with hand-drawn carts, which were piled high with merchandise, often supported by their backs as they scurried along the street using both arms to drag the cart.
We picked up our bags at the hotel and ordered a taxi to the bus station. I had just enough Turkish to carry out a conversation with the taxi driver. He was so happy to be able to speak his own language with me.
The station was huge and chaotic; all kinds of Turkish delicacies and trinkets were on sale. We found our platform, platform 23, where lots of people were waiting and, interestingly, also lots of cargo.
I had pre-booked the bus online, and we had seats 2 and 3 right up at the front of the bus. We started our journey at 11:00, slowly exiting the clogged streets, passing well-kept tower blocks and office buildings, and into a vast mountainous area which was a dry, sandy, parched brown, almost desert-like. I was happy to have chosen this spot with a large window at the front and the road stretching to the horizon past the mountains.
The landscape started to flatten out a bit, and we made a 30-minute stop at Aksaray, a dedicated bus stop for long-distance buses so people could use the bathroom and get some food.
Ankara station was enormous, and we joined a massive taxi queue, but thankfully it seemed to move relatively quickly. Our taxi driver was young and impatient, saying "hop-hop," which makes me think he had lived in the Netherlands, which is very possible. He impatiently sped through the streets of Ankara, dropping us off at our hotel.
Something was wrong. The doors were firmly closed, and a group of people outside stood up and asked us if we had a booking. "Yes," we replied, to which he explained they were closed for renovation and we would have to cancel. He offered to find us a new place and phoned around, first promising us a place in the old city but then quickly changing his mind, saying it was full. He made a second phone call to go to Hotel "Riva," insisting that we had to take two separate rooms.
Once at Hotel Riva, they knew absolutely nothing about the bookings, and we just took two rooms on the spot, paying. Next problem, the Wi-Fi: we couldn't access the Wi-Fi, and after a long time, he provided a solution.
For dinner, Boriş, the hotel porter, gave us his employee card and recommended a place called Büklüm, but I was not impressed with the choice. Instead, I insisted that after such a long and messed up day, I would foot the bill today, so I found a mezze place. I had amazing halloumi and probably the best hummus I had ever eaten, while Stanislav had a salad. This was accompanied by a local white wine and a red wine as "dessert," which was actually probably half a bottle.
All this while, two local guys who were obviously gay to me were making fun of us, glancing mockingly at us. We switched from Dutch to Bosnian, which I am sure they couldn't understand.
Just before returning to the hotel, we found a nice, relaxed bar, and I had two wines before retiring to bed.
In a word #fuckedup
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