Divan Cukurhan Hotel It is located in front of the main entrance of the ancient city of Ankara. This building with adobe walls, wooden beams and a large interior patio has been hosting guests since the 15th century. It has cozy rooms and eclectic lounges, decorated with objects brought by the owner family on their trips to Africa and the East, which are mixed with antiques from the country itself, large masks, horses and paintings with ships in the hallways, all of them made of wood. It is also located in an ideal location to explore the ancient city, a stone’s throw from the Erimtan Museum of Art and Archeology, of the safety pin Museum of Anatolian Civilizations as well as Arslanhane, the largest Seljuk mosque with 24 wooden pillars ending in Roman-Byzantine marble capitals.
We are heading towards the highest point of the Turkish city and the oldest part, the castle, and as soon as we cross the main gate of the old city we arrive at a small square with colorful places to drink coffee made in the classic way, some shops with the typical lucky blue eyes and small alleys with traditional Turkish houses, many of them restored and some converted into local food restaurants. Thus ascending we arrive at the Ankara viewpoint, and from here you can see the city in its entirety. As the afternoon falls, tourists and locals gather at this point to watch the sun go down coinciding with the sound of the call for the last prayer of the day.
Tunali Hilmi Street Food Tour
We go down to modern Ankara. We start on Tunali Hilmi Street, full of life, where you can try, in its countless shops, all kinds of Turkish sweets and savouries. We start from the small Kuğulu park, with swans and a stream included, very popular among its inhabitants and where the establishment is located in a corner. Kitir. Here they serve local fast food: Kumpir, a roast potato seasoned to taste. Aydin, Burak and Onur are the three young people who run this small business in the green corner of the Turkish capital.
The next stop is Bolulu Hasan Usta pastry shopwith an immense variety of sweets on its counter and where you can order delicacies with names as curious as Lady’s Navel, made with honey and syrup; Ekmek kadayifibread with syrup; Tavuk gögsü, which could be translated as chicken breast pudding; or opt for the classic baklava. On the same street there are shops selling spices, nuts (kuruyemis), freshly roasted pipes and men with baskets on their heads selling the simitround buns with sesame seeds.
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We continue down until we find the favorite falafel restaurant of the people of Anakara, the Kebap 49, which opened its doors in 1949. Today Noyan, the third generation of this family business, shows the history of the establishment and that of its large family of employees through the photos that hang on the walls of its two floors. Although their menu is extensive, it is worth trying, of course, one of their falafel accompanied by a ayrana drink that results from a mixture of yogurt, water and salt that is drunk in large quantities here in summer.
The street ends near the white Kocatepe mosque, which was completed in 1987 after two decades and is one of the largest in the world. Its spacious interior, the geometric play of its domes, its soft tones together with a large number of small windows, create a very pleasant atmosphere for rest and contemplation. There is a small closet in one of the entrances with scarves that women can borrow.
![Flags with the face of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, in one of the streets of the old town of Ankara.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/AHFRK22TFBCNLH37TAJIBTEEPM.jpg?auth=9c3664db023ce6e6463077688b002b2158ff64e21ab388782829a9739807ba9b&width=414)
The traveler, especially the first-time one, cannot leave Ankara without visiting the Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mausoleum, founder of the Republic of Türkiye. Many Turks call him father and adore him, others accuse him of being a secular extremist, and we will find his face all over the city on flags, but also in the form of graffiti. Atatürk was obsessed with the Europeanization of his country, he made many changes that were merely symbolic, but it is true that he contributed a lot to the equality of women in Turkish society.
Heading to the sanctuary of Yazilikaya and the Hittite capital of Hattusa
You have to leave Ankara to soak up the Hittite culture. The first stop is the Yazilikaya Shrine. Dabut is responsible for the access gate and the small grocery store. souvenirs where the guide to this excavation and the crafts made by 14 families from the surrounding area are sold. He himself, with the help of a knife, is drawing the Hittite gods on a green stone with astonishing precision.
![Yazilikaya, the largest known Hittite rock sanctuary.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/SLYATLSOW5HERBJEGZT5K4NBO4.jpg?auth=b7ee3adc646c307d616fc954fcc3345873f318e00e466c8dac8ecdc4defc2a6a&width=414)
This is the largest known Hittite rock sanctuary. The rock profiles of the deities in a row accompany us to the entrance until we reach the main scene formed by the gods Teshub and Hebat, God of the Storm and the Sun, respectively. In front of them, the largest relief in the chamber: Tudhaliya IV, the great King of Hattusa. His tomb is located in the adjacent chamber—accessed through a narrow hallway—which was ordered to be built by his son, Suppiluliuma II. Here an impressive relief of Tudhaliya IV accompanies the 12 Gods of the underworld.
The capital of the Hittites, Hattusa, is located a few kilometers from this place of worship. Unesco world heritage since 1986, its excavations began back in 1906 by the German Archaeological Institute and continue today. The route is usually done by car, as it covers several kilometers, but we can stop whenever we want. The most important stops are marked with explanatory signs.
From this high promontory you can see a large part of the ancient Hittite city; Here is the Lion Gate, the best-known image of Hattusa; A few kilometers further you can go through a tunnel that gives an idea of the width of its walls; and at the top of it awaits the door of the sphinxes; The originals are in the museum of the nearby city, in the Boğazköy Museum, where through these and other pieces found in the excavations one can understand how it was the capital of the Hittite empire. It shows everyday objects, pots, glasses, sculptures, a clay sarcophagus and tablets, also made of clay, that tell of the correspondence between Ramses II and Hattusili III and the good relations they had.
![The Lion Gate, the best-known image of the Hittite city of Hattusa (Türkiye).](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/LN7M7U5SZNFRVPJL4OQOAVQBF4.jpg?auth=411c8806ff889d68527c1c8df0d04369fd2c4149b70ce74d06caa0bb80bb6bea&width=414)
Other stops in the city of Hattusa are the Gate of the God of War, whose original relief is kept in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, and the Cult Chamber, built by the last king of Hattusa around 1,200 BC. of Christ, full of hieroglyphs that are thought to be a symbolic entrance to the underworld.
Between underground cities and churches in Cappadocia
Already in the Cappadocia region, the next stop on the route is Kaymaklı, a 16-story underground city, excavated, it is believed, by the Hittites and occupied by different cultures over the centuries. Four of them are visited, and it is incredible to imagine the life of the 3,000 people and animals in these cities when they had to survive locked up for months against invasions from other towns. There were community kitchens, stables, even cemeteries, and on each floor an area for wine production, such was its importance. These caves had ventilation with the outside, wells, communication channels between the floors and, in some cases, tunnels of several kilometers between the different underground cities, such as the neighboring Derinkuyu.
![The underground city of Kaymaklı (Türkiye).](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/HT6BJQZUTVBXLORRASS5B5C5DU.jpg?auth=2b741e864379f0970e4de7d60ff07fa851c90a2b0077739901119f2818683c17&width=414)
Waiting about half an hour by car Goreme. Its more than 1,000 rock-cut churches contain the first wall paintings of Christians, who used frescoes to teach this new religion 1,500 years ago, they were the followers of Basil the Great. The complex made up of the churches is as beautiful inside as it is outside and it is recommended to spend a few hours to be able to enter as many churches as possible and enjoy their wonderful frescoes, in many cases recently restored. The first one that appears when you go up the ramp is the Hebilla church, it is the oldest and largest. And so the churches follow one another, the Karanlik Kilise or dark church with its pantocrator, the church of the block or Elmalı Kilise, with a fresco of the last supper, the church without a name.
We then move to the small town of Çavuşin, which was an ancient Greco-Roman city, to finish the tour at the Bala Per restaurant. In front of this excavated city we take a good look at the cheese and vegetable rolls that are the Borekfrom the delicious yogurt, cucumber and mint dish that is Cacik, to finish with a lamb cooked for hours in a sealed clay pot.
![The elaborate frescoes inside one of Göreme's churches.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/7RXZ7AJWWJFPPKEPFC5FAUFQLI.jpg?auth=56a9b2673b8138c4de97d71b8d85ecee8a3ad31bc928b61611f4aee186bda483&width=414)
Return to Ankara
We take the road back to Ankara and pass through the Kizilirmak or Red River, the longest in Turkey, which after a journey of 1,200 kilometers leads to the Black Sea. The red clay that gives it its name is highly prized by Turkish potters and it is not difficult to find small ceramists who sell their pieces on both sides of the road.
From the car, apricot, apple, wheat, pumpkin or potato plantations, as well as ceramic and pumice stone factories, follow one another on the great plain.
On the other side of the road, the salty river Tuz Gölü, sacred to the Hittites, which they endowed with healing properties. In summer it dries out and you can walk on it. Much of the salt for kitchens throughout the country is obtained from its waters and, if you are lucky, you will see a kestrel or flamingo flying that usually nests here.
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