Ataturk

Our first stop in Anatolia was at the Mausoleum of Ataturk which was built after his death to honour him. What an impressive and moving place. At the beginning we see 2 men in uniform, one jenadarme and one airforce, who stand at perfect attention and look spectacular. I was too shy to go stand beside them to have a picture taken even though we were allowed to.

The whole area was covered in marble, the lines were simple and clean, everything pristine. Inside the large mausoleum we read heartfelt letters honouring him. There is a large fresh floral wreath in front of his crypt.

In another building his small boat and his own car, plus two official cars are well displayed. His was a 1935 Cadillac and the official cars were both Lincolns.

Ataturk is honoured so deeply because he (almost forced) Turkey into the modern era. He made them change their alphabet to what we use, did not allow girls to wear even a headscarf to school. His decisions were absolute but it radically brought the country out of an Islam monocracy to a totally democratic country. He was ruthless but Turkey realizes how much he did for the country.

As we left this huge area there were two more military men, representing the navy and army and standing at rigid attention.

One lady said she spent her time in the ladies bathroom and it was the prettiest one she's ever been in.

Our hotel was very nice, green marble bathroom counter and all.
Our meals are supplied along the way. We eat breakfast at whatever hotel we wake up in. It's always a good variety of food. Lunch is usually somewhere along the way and supper is at the hotel where we will spend the night. The food has been excellent and if we don't gain any weight we'll be very happy.