OT: Heading To The Green, Green Mountains and Hot, Hot Water

[Guest guest]

Hi y'all,

 

The weather here has finally turned kinda nasty .. cold wind and rain,

freezing nights and snow on the mountains surrounding Ankara. I've been

waiting for this and I'm not at all disappointed. Now that its so cold,

we're going to an isolated place in the mountains and warm up. ;-)

 

Around 8 hours from now Tanya and I along with a Russian-Turkish couple

will be heading to the Patalya Thermal Resort Hotel .. a 4-Star resort

located 85 kms outside of Ankara and in high pine forests.

 

On the way up we will stop at one of the most famous second generation,

small Mom-Pop eateries in Turkey. The name is .. Itfaya Medana Arkada

Kofteci .. means, the " Hamburger Seller Located Behind the Fire House. "

Nothing fancy about this place .. its an outdoor restaurant(?) with one

choice on the menu - hamburgers, homemade tater chips, fruit, yoghourt,

Shepherd's Salad (chopped maters, peppers, cukes, onions, and garlic

covered in vinegar and olive oil) and non-alcoholic beverage of choice.

Cooking is done over an open fire on a large rock tossed up by a volcano

centuries ago. That rock gotta be 10 tons or more. Its not unusual to

see villagers sitting alongside well dressed businessmen eating there ..

horse or donkey carts alongside chauffeured Mercedes, etc., waiting for

the owners to finish eating. The cost per person is around $5 and

nobody ever leaves there hungry. Folks from Ankara often go there on

weekends just for the chow .. its worth the trip.

 

The Patalya Thermal Resort is where students from the Baskent University

School of Applied Sciences and Vocational School of Social Sciences get

their on-the-job practical training.

 

Baskent University is one of the many Turkish Universities that teaches

all classes in English. The university and hospital were created from

the original Turkish Organ Transplant and Burns Treatment Foundation.

 

Patalya Thermal Resort .. http://www.patalyahotel.com.tr/

 

At the above URL .. on the left side are links. Click on Fotograflar ..

and see some scenes of the outdoor pool in Winter. Its snowing up there

now so we will be able to swim outside during the snowfall. :-)

 

The Patalya Thermal Resort features Sauna, Turkish Hamam, Massage, all

the beauty treatments like Mud and Aromatic Plant Baths, Body Scrubbing,

etc. Cost is a bit more in winter than in summer but still its cheap

when compared to U.S. prices. A deluxe room for two .. including two

meals in their outstanding dining room is $160 a day. But they always

give me a 25% discount cause I'm such a nice feller. ;-)

 

We'll stroll the forest paths (similar to those found in Bavaria) then

come back for a Gluhwein or two .. Gluhwein (Hot Mulled Wine) is a hot

Red Wine with lots of spices .. like Cassia, Clove, Cinnamon, Coriander,

Star Anise, Orange, Nutmeg and such .. its served just below the boiling

point so you gotta drink it slow. ;-) This is a typical German, Dutch,

Austrian, etc., winter drink.

 

Gonna stay Sunday and Monday night and come back around noon Tuesday.

 

I'll have access to the I-Net during that time and will forward orders

to my folks in Maryland but I won't answer any mail until late Tuesday

afternoon cause while I'm there I'm gonna be one laid back dude. Y'all

keep in mind that we only live twice .. well .. maybe some of us live

three times but most folks only get two shots at life. ;-)

 

Y'all have a gud'un .. and keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch http://www.AV-AT.com