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More on Turkey and Ataturk


Ankara by comparison to Doha was cold. The climate was very much like that which we have in Scotland – so for me it was acceptable. The sun did shine from time to time so it was pleasant on the whole. The photos I took are published here if you want to look at them.

We did notice that many of the tall buildings in the city centre were decorated with flags and portraits of Ataturk. See the photo to the left. It was clear that Ataturk is held in high esteem and his body lies in his Mausoleum in Ankara. He is known as the founder of the Republic of Turkey.

More about Mustafa Kemel Atatürk.

More on Qatar

I have published some of the photos I took whilst in Qatar and you can view them by clicking here.

This very short trip probably gave a false impression of Qatar as a whole. The city of Doha was very well developed with a very westernised lifestyle. However, when you leave by air it is clear that when the city boundary is crossed – the country reverts to pure desert. Unfortunately, I was not able to venture that far from the hotel on this occasion.

Turkey – March 2008

Arrived in Ankara (Turkey) at about 7pm local time – it was dark so I have not formed am impression of the place as yet. It took about 40 minutes by taxi to travel from the airport to the hotel and we seemed to bypass a constant string of residential areas. All the accommodation I saw took the form of multi-story blocks – all looking fairly similar.

I provide below a couple of photos of the hotel room where I am staying.

The people seem to be very friendly so far.

On entry to Turkey I needed to purchase a visa for my visit. As it transpired this is a three month multiple entry visa which costs £10 (UK). So I reached into my wallet and took out a ten pound note which I handed the visa clerk! He proceeded to look at it disconcertingly. What could be wrong – it was a crisp Clydesdale bank not which I had obtained straight from the Clydesdale ATM in my home town.

That was it!!!!!

He looked at me and said – ‘this is no good” I thought that he perhaps could not take payment in UK pounds – but no!!! The problem was that he would only accept English notes!!!! I have to confess my natural inclination to complain, stand my ground and insist my Scottish note was “legal currency” and every bit as good as its English counterpart – but I was tired and thought better of that. So I paid in American dollars!!!!