Ankara

There is nothing better than a company of honest and genuine people. In my life so far I have been lucky to meet people like that all over the world. You live in Portugal, Canada, Bangladesh, India, Turkey, Japan, China, Spain, Morocco, Italy, Albania, Greece, Vietnam. Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Poland, Holland, Denmark, Russia, New Zealand, Australia, England, France, and many other countries that I have been lucky to find you. You know who you are. You have brought so much light into my life. You have restored my faith in human kind. You made me believe again that people are good. Thank you for inspiring me to be a better person. Thank you for showing me what is the most important thing in life. I hope that in each post, in each painting you will recognise yourself and your influence on me. You made me. Thank you.

This is Ankara, The capital city of Turkey. It's not a big city. But like many other capital cities is it charming and offers a lot of history. Ankara was the second last stop of our Mediterranean bike ride. From beginning to finish this country and Ankara did stop to amaze me how incredible the people were. Good-hearted, honest, fun-loving and extremely giving. The first moment we arrived at the bus station in Ankara, we were greeted by three guys, devilishly handsome inside and out. They were standing there, all smiles with a sign in their hands. I can't remember now but I think it said something humorous like "Cyclists Wanted".  And that is how our adventure with them started. They were so good and inviting to us that we ended up staying with them for almost two weeks. They had nothing but good intentions and lots of strength to party and show us the Turkish hospitality. Their apartment was always filled with friends, guitar music, singing, smell of tea and good conversations. There was a lot of passion to show us the Turkish culture. It is here that I learned the only phrase in Turkish I know. Strangely, it is not "thank you" or "I am sorry" or "hello", which in good taste should have been! "CHAI HAZYRRRRR", "the tea is ready". After this phase we would all flock to the table like hungry chickens! Tea meant that it was time to socialise and share moments together in friendship. It was also here I learned that "kaloryfer" is not only a Polish word for a radiator/heater!

They were students and they didn't have much. But whatever they had they shared with us. How do you I even say thank you for such kindness. I have no pictures at hand of those glorious days but there is a small video. Turkey rocks!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6glbA7W674

Above you see a painting of some young women sitting on the old walls of the Ankara Kelesi (Castle). Nobody knows when it was build but who is counting years or centuries! It is still standing and it is still good-looking. It caught my eye how nicely these women arranged themselves in colour. It is as if there were two teams. Team Blue and team Brown. But even more mesmerising to me was the shadows they created.