We went out for dinner in Ankara, at a wonderful restaurant on a terrace that had (by far) the best Turkish food I've had. They seemed reluctant to let us in at first, but Gareth somehow managed to get us a spot. I think some name dropping might have been involved, but who really knows. Anyhow, I love meze.
This was the only photo I took at dinner. We were the only foreigners there, and were already receiving a lot of stares, so I tried to refrain from looking any more like a tourist.
From there, we ended up going to watch Black Sea style music at a bar next door. The bag pipe player, Ozbay, works at the hotel where we always stay, and has toured the world playing music. There was a lively group at the bar, and everyone was up and dancing most of the evening. We got roped into joining for a few numbers, but the steps are complicated, and I made a complete fool of myself. Oh well. Luckily most people seemed excited enough by the music to ignore the presence of a few token foreigners. The people of the Black Sea region of Turkey, I was told, have a distinct regional identity and culture, and identify very strongly with hailing from the region.
Ozbay explains how the bagpipe works.
Gareth gives it a try.
The dancing begins.
Dinner looked delicious, elizabeth. where are you headed to now?
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