Ankara to Amasya

Time to leave Ankara and head for “eastern Turkey”. We drove to Bogazkale and the Hittite cities of Hattusas, the Hittite capital and Yazilikaya, an open air Hittite religious sanctuary with rock carvings. We also visited Alacahoyuk. The ruins are mostly foundations now, but you can get a sense of the vast expanse of these ancient cities, dating back to the 14th Century BC.

Then it was time to drive to Amasya, reportedly one of the most beautiful and “Turkish” towns in Turkey. We actually found the pension that Alice Settles wrote about in her book, Turkish Reflections. A very funky B&B (with no breakfast) place- a renovated Amernian priests’ mansion with huge rooms, definitely set up for the backpacker crowd.

Amasya was one of the capitals of the Pontic Kingdom and sits on the banks of the Yesilirmak (Green) River, surrounded by high cliffs and a spectacular castle on the hill. It’s a charming little town with rows of Ottoman half-timbered houses and the rock-cut tombs of the Pontic Kings cut into the hills.

The Pontic Tombs:

We walked around the castle (Citadel) for amazing views of the town, had a few drinks at a horrible tour group hotel, before taking our hotel owners’ recommendation and headed to the local dive, Bahar. The restaurant was filled with men- but had wonderful food ($12 for a chicken dinner with a bottle of wine). We headed back to the hotel after dinner and met a lovely Australian couple and talked for a few hours, trading travel tales.