i <3 buses.

Today, 23 Nisan [23 April] is the Cocuk Bayram [chojook bairam; Children’s Fest]. Thousands of children, from all over the world, are shipped in to Turkey today to participate in the festivals. I live about 10 minutes away from Anitkabir, where there was a big celebration, and I could hear all the noise through my windows. Children. They are super important.

It's also National Sovereignty Day...ie woah woah nationalism day! Everywhere you look there are ginormous Turkish flags and portraits of Ataturk. Look at that face...

But, those parts of 23 Nisan are really not very important. What is important is that no matter what your age there are no classes on Cocuk Bayram. And this year, that meant: three.day.weekend.

Now, instead of capitalizing on that fact and taking a three day trip, I went on a one day trip to Amasya, with Candas, Michael, and Ryan.

From Ankara, Amasya is about two-thirds of the way to the Black Sea and a six hour bus ride north-east. Now, you may ask yourself “why in the world would a person spend six hours on a bus only to have to turn around and come back? what in the world does Amasya have that would warrant that?”

All I can say is: Amasya is famous for their really small tasty apples?

Too bad it's not apple season...

Yeah, I've got nothin'.

The earliest bus to leave for Amasya is at 8:30 am (we went with MisAmasyaTur). That’s a pretty late start for a day trip to a place so far away. But, hey, no big deal! The ride is nice and smooth and there is decent scenery along the way. With good company, the ride's a breeze.

Furthermore, and more importantly, the rest stop for MisAmasyaTur serves wonderful food; I can recommend the super great chickpea stew and a pretty good eggplant stew. My rest stop experiences in Turkey have been generally top-notch--at least in terms of food, bathrooms are a different story--and they can really make-or-break a trip. People expect good food and service at rest stops and the subpar places go out of business pretty quick. There are, of course, some pretty bad places too...I've just been lucky thus far. The rest stop choices of bus companies should definitely be taken into account when choosing your ride. Ok, maybe the price is worth considering first...buuuut, details.

Additionally, the ride takes you through the city of Corum aka the leblebi capital of the nation…perhaps of the world. Bet you didn't know there was a capital for roasted dried chickpeas, chalky little rounds that Turks eat like nuts...but to an excessive amount. Whew, they're great on the digestive tract, let me tell you. And you can get them in so many varieties--salted, unsalted, covered with a neon pink sugar shell, rolled in honey and sesame seeds, chocolate covered. Oh the options for these little gems...endless!

The 8:30 bus puts you in to Amasya circa 2:30. Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day—sunny, very warm. Really, wonderful. We decided to take it pretty easy and we didn’t have that much time seeing as our return bus was at 6 o’clock. That’s right, we had three-and-a-half hours in Amasya. Ok, moving on.

Well, let me tell you, Amasya is indeed an incredibly beautiful place. Really, it is. the Yesilirmak [yehsheelermahk; Green River] runs right through the city and when the weather is gorgeous [as it was yesterday], it’s wonderful to walk along the path they’ve built next to it. There are Ottoman Houses along the banks and Pontic Tombs carved noticeably into the mountain. Many of the old houses have been turned into restaurants or cay bahcesi, so you can sit by the river and have a relaxing meal or cup of tea. Additionally, you can hike up to the Pontic Tombs and explore. It’s an incredibly picturesque and quaint little town.

We started at the large Sultan II Bayezid Camii in the middle of the downtown area. It’s the largest mosque complex in Amasya. I didn’t go inside, but the outside was quite nice. Ryan said the inside was comparatively lackluster. One strange aspect of many of the Amasya camii was the scrolling digital placards they hung outside. Definitely had the effect of ruining the atmosphere a bit.

After the camii we made our way over to the tombs. As we climbed up I took quite a fall. The rocks have become very slippery from the years of walking and weather and I managed to fall forward onto my camera, busting up my knee, wrist, and ankle. I hurt quite a lot for the rest of the day, but it’s gotten much better since. And, luckily, my camera was ok.

The tombs were nice but the view was even nicer. All over the hills there were red poppies and yellow, white, and purple wildflowers. It was just beautiful. The weather was so nice and there were little groups of people who would just sit down in the grass near the tombs and enjoy a good smoke or some tea.

We came back down from the tombs and decided to have a bite to eat. We found a nice place by the river, but it turned out that all they had to eat was tost. We wanted something a little more substantial than tost, so we went to the restaurant next door. While this place was not directly on the river, it was more comfortable than the first and still an incredibly enjoyable place to sit for an hour. We ordered a bunch of meze and bol bol ekmek [a whole lotta lotta bread] to eat and then just relaxed in the sun and calm atmosphere.

After our linner we had to get back to the bus...aaaaand, yeah, that's about it. We hopped back on the bus and had six more hours. On the ride back I had the wonderful opportunity to see Tokyo Drift [the sequel to The Fast and The Furious]. I decided to watch since I couldn't sleep. Luckily, as Ryan said, the plot is so simple that I could follow it without understanding all the Turkish. By the way, it's a really bad movie.

An additional interesting aspect of the ride back was the bus attendant. He was short. The bus left twice without him on it. Watching him sprint and wave his hands while managing to maintain the position of the cigarette sticking out of his mouth...it was impressive/hilarious.

We got back around 11:53 pm. We actually got to the bus station but then, for some reason, the bus driver had to circle again. So, we could have been arrived 6 or 7 minutes earlier. An important thing because we could have probably caught the last metro. But, we didn't, which meant we had to get a cab.

Can I tell you, trying to get a cab was the most excruciatingly difficult thing. We wanted to go in a direction that was opposite what most of the cabs were doing and for some reason they just couldn't fathom going a different way. It was absolutely ridiculous. They kept claiming to not understand us even though they understood quite clearly. Then, one guy said he'd pick us up at the corner...and came to the corner only to drive off!

So, Ryan told us to screw it and took us around the corner to his home turf--Emek--where he knew we could get a cab. [Ryan totally rules over Emek; everyone knows him there] On the way to the cab place Ryan told me that getting to my house was actually only a 10 minute walk. So, Michael and Candas took a cab and Ryan guided me home. In the end, because I didn't take the cab, the other two probably could have taken the other route and grabbed one of the cabs from before. Oops.

And that was the day.

Conclusions?
Well, Amasya is a beautiful place and I would definitely recommend a trip there. No doubt about it. Heck, it might be my favorite place yet--it is scenic and an absurdly relaxing place [granted, I had the advantage of being there on a Sunday when it was warm and sunny]



However, I think, coming from Ankara it would be better to use Amasya as a stopover point on a longer trip. It would be a great place to stay the afternoon/evening during a trip to the Black Sea.

In the end, it was a delightful trip and I'm glad I decided to go...

...despite 12 hours on a bus for 3 hours in town! [heh I'm sorry Candas, I just can't stop. ok, ok i'm really done now. i promise! mwah]

In all seriousness--it was great. And I'd check out Amasya if I were you...especially if it's apple season!