TURKEY LIVE ABOUT turkish-TURKIYE

The historic Ankara Gar (railway station) is among the best examples of the 1930s Bauhaus style that once defined the look of Ankara along with several graceful buildings from its Ottoman past.

The Gar is an active place, with suburban commuter trains starting early in the morning, followed by the arrival of the overnight expresses from Istanbul and Izmir, then the departure of the day trains to all parts of the country

Services include ticket sales windows, snack stands, newsstands, bancomat/ATM machines, waiting room, toilets, and Left Luggage/Baggage lockers. (The aternative to the lockers is to use the left luggage/baggage checkroom at ASTI (Ankara’s main bus terminal) if you want to drop your luggage, see Ankara , then continue your journey the same day.

Ankara Gar has a good, old-fashioned (some would say “historic”) restaurant open for lunch and dinner. The Gar Lokantasi offers decent traditional Turkish cuisine and drinks at reasonable rates. A three-course dinner with one drink need cost no more than YTL25. A light meal can be had for YTL15.

Clientele in the Gar Lokantasi is a coterie of local regulars rather than travelers, 95% male, chatting over meze and glasses of raki. It’s a mellow scene. Women are completely welcome. There’s a fair amount of cigarette smoke. The waiters take good care of everybody.

Taxis wait in front of the Gar, and the Havas airport bus stops here on its route between Esenboga Airport and ASTI, Ankara’s main bus terminal.

The most important trains arrive and depart the Ankara Gar on Peron 1 (Track 1), the most convenient track. A subterranean passage down 30 steps leads to the other tracks.

The passage also leads to the Maltepe Ankaray (subway) station, but it’s not an easy walk. First you must go down the 30 steps of the passage (there is a ramp for wheelie bags), then walk several hundred meters along the passage, then pass through the Tandogan Çarsisi, an underground shopping area with a total of 17 steps up (few ramps).

At the end of the Tandogan Çarsi you must climb 50 steps (no ramp or lift), exit to the street, turn left and walk for several minutes to the Maltepe Ankaray station and descend its several flights of steps to the trains.

If your luggage is heavy, this may seem like too much of a bother. The reward is that ASTI, Ankara’s main intercity bus terminal, is right at the western end of the Ankaray subway line.

The other way to reach Ankara’s subway/underground train system is to walk out the front of the Gar and straight along Cumhuriyet Bulvari, keeping Gençlik Parki on your right. At the next major street (Istiklal Caddesi), by the tall Radisson SAS Hotel, is the Ulus Metro station.

Walking from the Gar to the Ulus station is easier, more pleasant, and about the same distance as to the Maltepe station, but if you board at the Ulus station you must change trains (from the Metro line to the Ankaray line) at Kizilay.

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