Another beautiful sunny day and the boys decided to have a rest on a beachside along the black sea soon after leaving Kesap on the way to Ankara.
Some liquid refreshment would give the boys wings on their way to Turkeys capital
Due to an attempted military coup only some 10 days ago in Turkey team Lipstick expected heavy security presence and a lot of police stops.
This however and surprisingly did not take place as everything looked very calm and they were not stopped a single time on their way to Ankara.
At first they travelled some 150km along the shores of the Black Sea before turning south west towards inland just after reaching Samsun – another big city on the Black Sea …
Samsun is not only the most populated city, but also traditional capital of the Black Sea region of Turkey. Samsun is believed to be home of legendary Amazons by the local people and some historians. Samsun has a special place in the republican history of Turkey, as this is where the republic’s founder, Kemal Atatürk, has set foot to start the War of Independence in 1919.
shortly before Samsun along the edge of the Black Sea…
again the mountain range running along the Black Sea came to sight and needed to be crossed.
The Black Sea is a body of water between Southeastern Europe and Western Asia, bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
The Black Sea has a positive water balance; that is, a net outflow of water 300 km3 (72 cu mi) per year through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles into the Aegean Sea. Mediterranean water flows into the Black Sea as part of a two-way hydrological exchange. The Black Sea outflow is cooler and less saline, and floats over the warm, more saline Mediterranean inflow – as a result of differences in density caused by differences in salinity – leading to a significant anoxic layer well below the surface waters. The Black Sea drains into the Mediterranean Sea and then the Atlantic Ocean, via the Aegean Sea and various straits. The Bosporus Strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the Strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean Sea region of the Mediterranean. These waters separate Eastern Europe and Western Asia and team Lipstick will cross into Europe once they cross the bridge in Istanbul.
As the water looked rather blue and not black at all the boys wandered where the name “Black Sea” would come from and after some research they found out that some ancient sailors along the Mediterranean must have travelled between the red sea which separates Africa and Asia and the Black Sea which separates Europe and Asia. Now the red sea to them would be in the south and the black sea would be in the North of the Mediterranean.
Now the magnetic compass which was invented by the Chinese and used in Europe from about the 13th century has a needle which is half covered in red and half covered in black. The black part of the needle would always point to North and the red part would always point to South – and it is therefor assumed that this is how the Black Sea and the Red Sea arrived at their names.
The Black Sea is in the North and the Red Sea is in the South of the Mediterranean….
Wherever on looks in Turkey one can see the National Flag on some buildings, petrol stations or even attached to cars- whether this is due to the recent political unrest as a show of unity or whether this is always the case remains unanswered.
Some of these flags are really huge like the one shown in above picture close to a petrol station – the boys guessed it to be some 30m long and 10m wide…
The picture also shows the road to Ankara as lying on lots of hills with a constant up and down…
Lipstick gets a proper wash down before entering Ankara…
Ankara was reached in mid afternoon through some imposing gate structure
and soon the city unfolded with narrow streets and many buildings…
Ankara was Atatürk‘s headquarters from 1920 and has been the capital of the Republic since its founding in 1923, replacing Istanbul following the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
The government is a prominent employer, but Ankara is also an important commercial and industrial city, located at the center of Turkey’s road and railway networks.
The city gave its name to the Angora wool shorn from Angora rabbits, the long-haired Angora goat (the source of mohair), and the Angora cat.
The area is also known for its pears, honey, and Muscat grapes.
Although situated in one of the driest places of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation except for the forested areas on the southern periphery, Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, at 72 square meters.
About 4.6 Million people live in Ankara…
As team Lipstick entered Ankara from the Northern parts they arrived in the seemingly older part of the city and the roads were very narrow leading to the center of town in search for a place to stay.
Nice accommodation however was found and to the boy’s delight there was a steakhouse just opposite the road – something they have not seen but were longing for since leaving Shekou at the start of this journey…
First real steak in weeks… and very well prepared indeed…