A couple of window shots as we left Ankara; there are some amazing buildings.
Heading for Bursa, en route we made a complete waste of everyone's time stop at Gordion to visit the 7th century BC tomb of King Midas - I'll post the only two photos I took there. We had to walk down this long dark tunnel and peer through a gap to see where he was buried.
Apparently he was found lying on a cedar coffin, nestled in purple and gold textiles.
On the way back to the coach I spotted this clever Turkish Magpie helping itself to a drink.
The rest of the drive was pretty boring and after several hours we arrived in Bursa, Turkey's 4th largest city. Until the 1980s it was known as "Green Bursa” because of its woodland setting but since then massive building projects have turned it into "Concrete Bursa” - it certainly looked a bit of a dump and I was only half joking when I mused this might be our hotel.
In fact our hotel was quite nice; a good way out of town, halfway up Mt Uludağ (2,500m) and overlooking the city. It consisted of two completely different looking and unconnected buildings and rather strangely we had to walk (in the pouring rain) to the other building for our meals. They had a hamam in the basement and kindly allowed me to take a few photos; I had to be a bit careful though as two chaps were enjoying the facilities.
Dinner was actually very nice although soon after we sat down a huge party of school children arrived and consequently the noise levels went up hugely but they were quite well behaved. The following morning we went down for breakfast and I can only describe the scene in the dining room as carnage - there was used crockery and utensils on every surface and the staff were running around like headless chickens doing their best to clean up. The buffet table looked like a swarm of locusts had been through and we learned from others in our group that a large, (possibly) Indonesian, party had descended, ignored the seating plan and simply cleared the buffet, stuffing food into their mouths, pockets, handbags and anything available. Wow!
We gave the lovely staff a chance to catch their breath, after which they replenished the buffet and bought Ian and I very nice fried eggs.
Views of Bursa before we checked out, it all looks very industrial.
