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CITY GUIDE / 20 discovery ideas
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Ankara.
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Search this city by topic →Walk the citadel walls above Ankara
The old fortress crowns the hill over Ulus, its Byzantine and Seljuk walls built partly from re-used Roman stone — column drums and inscriptions set sideways into the rampart. Climb up at the end of the day — and photograph it.
See the Midas tumulus at the ancient city of Gordion
Gordion's ‘Midas Mound’ has a surprising name: the tomb predates Midas's death and probably belonged to his father. If open, follow the tunnel to view the wooden burial chamber. Photograph from a permitted spot and remember the distinction between the name and the evidence.
Story and sources →Eastern Express journey Ankara-Kars
An approximately 30-hour sleeper-train journey; snow scenery and old stations — and photograph it.
Read Augustus's own testament on a temple wall
The Res Gestae — the emperor's account of his own reign, carved in Latin and Greek — survives most completely here, on the walls of the Temple of Augustus beside the Hacı Bayram mosque. Fragments exist elsewhere; the readable text is in Ankara. Find it — and photograph it.
Touristic Eastern Express (with stops)
A touristic train route with sleeper cars, stopping in Erzurum, Erzincan and Kars — and photograph it.
Find real Angora mohair where the name comes from
Angora is Ankara. The long-haired goat of these steppes gave the city's old name to mohair in every language, and to the Angora cat and rabbit besides. Find a piece of the real thing — and photograph it.
Visit Anıtkabir
Tour the mausoleum and museum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey — and photograph it.
Tour the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations
Wooden furniture preserved by dry conditions in Gordion's tombs reached the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. As you explore, look for inlaid woodwork in the Phrygian section; study the pattern on a displayed piece and photograph it if permitted.
Story and sources →Wander the historic houses and eat güveç in Beypazarı
Stroll among restored Ottoman houses; try the famous 80-layer baklava and Beypazarı güveç (stew) — and photograph it.
Eat Ankara tava the way the city makes it
Rice baked with lamb and its own fat until the top crusts, cut into squares and served plain — a capital dish that rarely leaves the city. Order a plate — and photograph it.
Walk the restored Ottoman streets of Hamamönü
Below the citadel, a quarter of bay-windowed timber houses was pulled back from collapse and now holds craft workshops, tea gardens and the house where Mehmet Akif wrote the national anthem. Walk it — and photograph it.
Visit the Ethnography Museum where Atatürk first lay
The white marble museum on Namazgâh hill held Atatürk's body for fifteen years until Anıtkabir was finished; the spot is marked inside, beneath a collection of Anatolian crafts. Go in — and photograph it.
Spend an evening in the Sakarya streets
Behind Kızılay, a grid of pedestrian streets fills after work with fish restaurants, bookshops and students at outdoor tables — the capital being a city rather than an administration. Take a table — and photograph it.
Lake Van Express (Ankara-Tatvan)
One of the East's most beloved train routes; a Lake Van ferry connection at Tatvan — and photograph it.
See what CerModern is showing in the old railway works
The republic-era locomotive workshops beside the station were kept as a shell and filled with contemporary art — steel roof trusses over whatever is installed this month. Catch a show — and photograph it.
Follow the UNESCO Route: Ankara to Cappadocia
Follow the UNESCO route from Ankara to Hattusa and Cappadocia — and photograph it.
Ride the Ankara–Tehran (TransAsia) Express
The remarkable part is not the distance but Lake Van: there is no track around it, so the carriages are run onto a ferry and taken across the water, and you sit on a train that is on a boat. Photograph the loading ramp.
Take the Ankara–Istanbul High-Speed Train
Four and a half hours across the whole width of Anatolia, changing character somewhere around Eskişehir from steppe to the wooded hills. Take a window seat on the left going west for the Sakarya valley. Photograph the moment the landscape changes.
Ride the Mesopotamia Express (Ankara–Diyarbakir)
Ride the Mesopotamia Express between Ankara and Diyarbakir — and photograph it.
Take the Ankara–Eskisehir High-Speed Train
Turkey's first high-speed line, and still the one people take instead of driving: about an hour and a half, city centre to city centre, on track built for it rather than borrowed from the old alignment. Photograph the speed display when it settles at its cruise.
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