Ankara's main bus terminal, ASTI (acronym for Ankara Sehirlerarasi Terminal Isletmesi - everyone simply calls it Asti), is a mammoth building, with hundreds of buses roaring in and out every hour on routes to all cities and large towns in Turkey. Arrivals and Departures are at different levels making it look like a modern airport. Inside the terminal, large screens display arrival and departure times. It is a sight to view a large batch of buses pull away from adjacent gates simultaneously and then make a dash for the exit followed immediately by the next batch of buses taking up the vacated slots.

We'd already got a taste of Turkey's inter-city bus travel with the innumerable bus companies operating large buses that seemed to be made entirely of glass . The quality of the roadways and these glass behemoths that glide on them make travel in Turkey a dream like experience. Add free WiFi and refreshments served by professionally attired attendants every few hours (on daytime services) and free minibus transfers from the main bus station to the city centers(including hotel drops), you get the complete picture of a modern, efficient transport system that does not make a dent on your pocket. Even the smallest of towns seem to have direct connections to remote corners of the large country. The similarity to air travel is also accentuated by the presence of regional bus companies that operate on the hub-spoke model. As your bus passes through the country from city to city, each bus station is dominated by the local bus company. The occasional problem like a canceled service does occur but this is quickly resolved with prompt transfers.

The free transfer option has a few exceptions, Ankara being one of them. However, ASTI is on the terminus of one of the two underground rail networks that is accessible from within the station building itself, making the servis unnecessary . The Ankaray line is more like a light rail system with frequent stops and slow speed. It connects to the more typical subway system at the busy Khizilay intersection. 

As we exited from the street level elevator at Kolej station, we were unsurprisingly hit by a volley of rain water. Those threatening clouds we saw while approaching Ankara were not bluffing. With no retreat option, we had to get out and scamper for the nearest shelter outside a cake shop. We got a taste of Ankaran kindness from the shop owner who insisted that we come in and sit down at a table (no business expected). We consulted our iPhone and figured that we were less than 100m from our hostel and so made a dash for it. 

V made the unwelcome discovery that his replacement shoes bought in New Delhi (but made in the same country as the original shoes that broke down in China) exhibited the same problem under rainy conditions. To their credit, the shoes don't let any water in when there are no rain water puddles on the streets . We should not really be complaining.

The cold rainy weather was here to stay for the next several days but we refused to let it lock us indoors. The award winning Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and Roman era structures in the Ulus area needed to be visited and we did end up walking in the rain exploring the area.
The museum covered the Paleolithic (to 8000 BC), Neolithic (8000-5500 BC), Chalcolithic (5500-3000 BC), Early Bronze Age (3000-1950 BC), Assyrian Trade Colonies (1950-1750 BC), Hittites (1750-1200 BC), Phrygians, Urartians, Lydians (1200-600 BC) and Neo Hittites eras. The exhibits were mostly from nearby regions with some coming from other parts of Turkey. 

Some highlights: