Day 5

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Created on Saturday, 12 September 2015 15:14

09/09/2015 Istanbul – Ankara (Turkey), approx. 282 miles

This morning we thought of an easygoing trip to Ankara, checking in in the hotel, meeting a few
people and having a relaxed evening. Though this day took us very far from our expectations.
After the overnight stay in Uygar’s and Meyra’s living room, they served us an enormous Turkish
breakfast which would have been easily enough for five persons. That’s the typical Turkish
hospitality! At about 10 a.m. we made the Deloreans ready and after Wolfgang gave a last interview,
we hit the road half an hour later.

Of course there had been congestion leaving Istanbul, but then the motorways began to get empty
mile by mile. The Turkish highways have mainly three lines in each direction and are in perfect
condition. Compared to this the German Autobahns are farm tracks.

We came across wonderful landscapes and mountain ranges until we reached our destination Ankara
and our hotel “Grand Sera” at about half past 3 p.m.. Of course we attended exactly the mandatory
maximum speed limit in Ankara, thanks to our digital GPS-speedometers!

The hotel manager immediately cleared three parking spaces so that we could park our Deloreans
directly at the hotel’s entrance. We couldn’t even unpack our luggage as a crowd of fans surrounded
our cars. As it turned out Uygar published the hotel’s address via Facebook and even from Izmir
(which is 600 km away) the fans travelled to Ankara to see a Delorean once in a lifetime. It is just
overwhelming how friendly the people welcomed us here. We didn’t expect this at all!

After half an hour full of fan-talk and sitting in the cars we then eventually could check in and move
into our hotel rooms. Our hotel is near the marketplace, so we explored the small alleys with their
various stores.

At about half past six p.m. Ankara’s classic car club “Raiders&Brothers” announced their visit – we
appointed having dinner together via WhatsApp. About ten classic cars, from an Oldsmobile to a 69’
Volkswagen Beetle and some other daily drivers came punctually to our hotel and anew there was a
big crowd in front of the hotel. The club’s members were very friendly and after the introduction of
people and their machines the club escorted us through Ankara’s chaotic (as we felt it) traffic. They
announced us some sightseeing, but that was something different. The convoy stopped at a gate
with an armed guard. The gate opened and the guard wished us “Einen schönen guten Abend” (“a
pleasant evening”) in perfect German. As it turned out we now were at the mausoleum of Kemal
Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish state. Especially for our visit the responsible officer opened the
memorial – relationships surely were a factor, because the head of the classic car club greeted
everybody by handshake. We had the unique opportunity to take photos of the yet first Deloreans in
Turkey in front of the mausoleum.

The whole situation seemed somehow unreal to us – our photographer Wolfgang gave everything as
well!

After a group portrait with all participating cars our convoy drove to a nearby shopping mall. There
we ate delicious burgers for dinner. Same story here: a crowd around our cars

Finally Raiders&Brothers guided us back to our hotel and again we had another “crazy” day with lots
of “Worldwide Encounters” on our tour.

Translation by DWT-Translation-Team