Our plan for the last destination, before everyone else on the tour went back to Indonesia, was to visit and spend a couple of days in Istanbul. From Cappadocia, it took about 8 hours of driving by bus and before we had arrived in Istanbul there were 2 places we had visited, Lake Tuz (Salt Lake) and Anitkabir in Ankarra.
Location and what to see at Lake Tuz
Lake Tuz, (in Tuskish: Tuz Golu) or sometimes called Pink Lake, is located near Aksaray and is about an hour drive from Cappadocia. This lake is the second biggest lake in Turkey. During most of the year, it is very shallow (approximately 0.4 m (1 ft)). The salt mining generates industrial activity in the region. Lake Tuz was declared a specially protected area, including all of the lake surface and surrounding waterbeds and also some of the important neighboring steppe areas. The main Turkish breeding colony of greater flamingo, (Phoenicopterus roseus) is present on a group of islands in the southern part of the lake. For your information, the salt that extracted from the lake is exported to more than 60 countries, which really supports the economy in this region. Once you arrive and enter the area, you will find a store that sells souvenirs and, of course, they also sell products made from salt such as bath soap, bath salt, etc.
We met a crazy doggo here that tried to stole our attention.
Location and what to see at Anitkabir
From Lake Tuz we continued our journey to Ankara. About 5 hours later we arrived at Anitkabir. Anitkabir is the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the leader of the Turkish War Independence Day and the first President of the Republic of Turkey. The site is also the final resting place of Ismet Inonu, the second President of Turkey who was interred there after he died in 1973. His tomb faces the Atatürk Mausoleum, on the opposite side of the Ceremonial Ground. You enter the mausoleum through huge brass doors. Don’t forget to remove your hat out of respect (a guard will remind you if you forget to do so).
Don’t miss the chance to see the changing guards of the soldiers, which involves a lot of goose-stepping, loud stomping about and yelling of ceremonial orders. The Anıtkabir is open every day from 09:00 to 17:00 (til 16:00 in winter). The museum closes for lunch from 12:00 to 13:00. Admission fee is free.
Our next destination was Istanbul. Unfortunately, we had arrived in the evening around 8 pm at Hotel Golden Way Giyimkent and we were too tired to hang out somewhere else so we decided to just stay in the hotel and watch netflix before we slept.
Wander and Explore 