Viola won hearts – Vesti online

A visit to the Ethnographic Museum and the State Museum of Sculpture and Painting in Ankara was an introduction to further events during our first day of visiting the capital of Turkey. As the museums are practically located next to each other, on a hill from which the view of the greatness of Ankara bursts, we could not resist from that place not to enjoy the scene of the multimillion-dollar city that combines the oriental past and the business future. So, slowly, we reached lunch.

First Bank

The friendly staff of the restaurant warmly welcomed us. As an appetizer, we got a salad of cabbage, tomato, cucumber, carrot and boiled corn, which was a prelude to a very tasty Iskander kebab, a beef specialty topped with tomato sauce. We sweetened all that with kadaif with buffalo cream, a truly striking sweet that left no one indifferent. After lunch we continued on. We visited the First State Bank of Turkey, which is located in the old city center of Ankara. This institution was founded in 1924 by order of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and is one of the largest banks in the country. Inside the large and pleasantly tailored building, we had the pleasure of touring the rooms that serve as museum exhibits. There is an old bank safe, rooms used by Kemal Ataturk, as well as other famous Turks from the world of politics and business. I discovered that it is forbidden for anyone else in Turkey to bear the surname Ataturk, which is just one more in a series of proofs of how much this world respects its not-so-soon-deceased leader. We saw that several times during the trip itself.

Magicians of music

Dinner was reserved for one of the most recognized restaurants in Ankara. There we tried a variety of salads and seafood, among which octopus, skewered shrimp and sea fish with roe have a special place. For dessert, we ate a cake similar to trileće, only made from chickpeas, which provoked a special debate about the similarities and differences of dishes from the countries we come from. As journalists from Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary arrived in Ankara, it should come as no surprise that there are many overlaps in the names, but also in the way of preparing salty and sweet diakoni. After a hearty dinner, we went on to a symphony orchestra concert. The joint, uniform work of double basses and cellos, violas and violins, percussion and wind instruments, accompanied by the calmness of the piano and the soft authority of the conductor’s baton, caused our blood to pulsate, which can be compared to few previous life experiences. It was also the right way to end the first full day of our visit to Ankara.

Roman bath

The second day of our stay in Ankara started with breakfast at the hotel, during which we tried fatty sheep and buffalo cheeses, crispy bagels and salted olives. After that, we went to visit the Roman hammam, where we saw exhibits from the old days of Ankara and learned about the past of this place. According to our guide, the endlessly witty Betigul, it is the second largest place of its kind, after the Roman Baths in Rome. At that important place, we also received a valuable explanation about the way the hammam worked in the old days. For me personally, the part of the tour was particularly interesting, when we talked about the history of the Ottoman Empire, that is, how today’s generations of Turks view leaders from that part of their past. That’s how I learned that in the eyes of this world, the two most important sultans are, as expected, Mehmed the Conqueror and Suleiman the Magnificent.

Assembly and museum

After the hammam, we visited the building of the first Turkish parliament, which is now a museum. In this place, the modern history of Turkey practically began, since the first assembly was constituted there. They chose to have it in Ankara because it was the only one that was not occupied in the wars that Turkey fought after the First World War, in order to protect the territories that were once owned by the Ottoman Empire. In the parliament, we visited the main hall, where MPs sat from 1923 to 1960. In the side rooms, we saw things that were owned by Kemal Ataturk, another in a series of proofs of respect for the “father of the Turks”.

Atakula tower

Very hungry due to the dynamic but not overcrowded itinerary, after the visit to the first parliament, we went on to lunch. During it, the lamb kebabs stood out in particular. We sweetened our lunch with baklava and black tea. After an afternoon walk and buying gifts for family members and friends at home, we arrived to rest, which was a valuable refreshment, before continuing the sightseeing tour of Ankara. Before dinner, we visited the Atakule Tower, a massive tower 125 meters high, built in 1989. We also had dinner inside the tower, in a restaurant known for its cocktails, which we drank with pleasure. A fitting end to another exciting day in Ankara, a huge city that looks at the world arrogantly from an altitude of about 1,000 meters, but which accepted and comforted us all in its own magical way.