Happy Adana Birthday to Robert!

Hello!

As everyone who has ever heard me sing knows, I can’t.  However, that doesn’t mean I don’t!   So, when I woke up sometime in the middle of the night to January 31st, I serenaded Robert with “Happy Birthday!”  Fortunately, Robert can sing, and he joined in singing “Happy Birthday to me” and it wasn’t at all bad! 

View of Seyhan river and Hadrian's bridge from our suite

View downriver; the mosque we visited

At any rate, today is R’s birthday, and I am hopeful about finding a Turkish cake for him.

Up about 6:30 and down to breakfast about 8 am.  We didn’t have very far at all to go today, so thought we would just take our time getting there.  Excellent breakfast, and today, I found the Nutella that escaped my eye yesterday, for my chocolate pound cake that I also had yesterday morning for breakfast. Trust me, everything is better with Nutella! 

Our living room!

Optimum Mall with children's sand box!

I did want to mention a few new observances about Turkish breakfasts.  I’m sure that the breakfasts haven’t changed, so all I can assume is that I never noticed these things before or thought to write them down.  First of all, everywhere we have been, there is at least one soup for breakfast!  (I find that a bit odd…) R thought maybe it was porridge, but I checked, and trust me, I know what tomato soup looks like, and it doesn’t look like porridge!   And also, what I may have mentioned, is that every single morning, there is a quasi-salad bar included.  Several different types of greens, tomatoes, carrots and a few other odds and ends.  I haven’t seen any dressing (that we know of) but there is balsamic and regular vinegar out, along with olive oil.  Somehow, while I enjoy eating leftover spaghetti or chocolate cake for breakfast, I don’t think I’d look positively on a salad, but who knows?! 

Then, packed up and left the lovely Mersin Hilton about 10 o’clock for the hour+ drive to Adana on the D400.  (We decided, as we had lots of time, to skip the motorway.)  The good old D400, (which we have followed several times now) actually led us right to the Adana Hilton, a very imposing structure on the banks of the Seyhan River. 

Our hotel from the bridge

Sabanci Merkez Camii

It was only about 11:30 am but we decided to see if they would take us early – and they did!  How nice!!  As it turns out, I had used points to upgrade us to a King Riverview Suite, with executive lounge privileges.  The very nice men at reception checked us in, and we headed upstairs to our room 1027, which was at the end of a long hallway.  Well!! 

More Mosque

Inside on carpet

Not only do we have 1027, but we also have the connecting 1025, which is set up as a lounge/living room!  And our view is absolutely spectacular!  We can see the river flowing by, under the bridge built on the foundations of the one Hadrian built many, many years ago!  We are definitely going to walk over it tomorrow. 

Dropped our luggage, and then headed out to the shopping mall that is almost across the street, looking for some light lunch so that we can have R’s “official birthday dinner” tonight. 

Some stunning windows and tile

Walked out and straight into a windstorm!  Truly, incredible!  No idea at all where this wind is coming from, but the man at reception says it’s never really like this!  Except that it is!  So, we decided to take a cab, even though it was a short walk – but the air was SO dusty, which is my absolutely worst allergy, and I was worried about it!  Got to the Optimum (name of the shopping center) and up to the top floor, which is (surprise!) the food court!  This one also included a Pizza Hut along with Burger King, Arby’s, Sbarro and McDonalds.  We opted for McDonalds, which was fine.  After that, we did do a little looking around.  There was a store that had some of the most beautiful ceramic dishes – I would love to see if we could get them home, but wondering about shipping, etc.  I’ll think about it tonight. 

My Hittite Lion!!

Decided then that we needed to brave the windswept outside world, as we wanted to see the mosque across the street.  Set in a lovely park, the Sabanci Merkez Camii has six minarets and is the largest mosque between Istanbul and Saudi Arabia.  It was built by a very wealthy Turkish family and is covered top to bottom in marble and gold leaf.  It is said that the mosque can accommodate an estimated 28,000 worshippers.  As we haven’t been in a mosque in quite some time, we did want to review the “rules” for entering.  One needs to remove shoes and NOT step on the carpet in them.  Speak quietly, and do not disturb others praying, and ladies must be covered, especially the head. 

Random street shot; very busy place!

R maintains that horn honking reaches its peak here!

As we were in coats and jeans, the covering part wasn’t difficult, especially as I almost always wear scarves – all I had to do was untie mine and wrap it around my head, and voila!  Compliant!  The mosque is truly lovely, as well as being truly cavernous!  It’s HUGE (well, to accommodate 28,000 people praying, I guess it would have to be!)  We walked around and took photographs, and enjoyed the experience very much.  Then, back to the door and putting shoes back on.  Robert somehow managed to get a terrible cramp in his leg that he is still feeling the results of!  I suggested a massage, but that is definitely not his “thing” and he said he would walk it off.

So, back outside and into the wind once more!  (To be honest, it’s about 42 degrees outside, according to Intellicast Weather, but with the wind blowing, it feels like 31 – and I’d definitely agree with that!  Right next to the mosque is the archeological museum, which has been a goal of mine for several years now.  When we tried to visit about three years ago (the last time we were here) it was just closing down as a new museum was being prepared. 

Waiting for us when we got back!

Birthday Boy Robert!

Over the past several years, I have periodically Googled to see if any progress has been made – and even though I read in August 2015 that they were “close” to re-opening, I wasn’t able to get any real information.  So, I asked the man at reception if he knew, and he was nice enough to call.  And no, of course they’ve not reopened yet!  What a surprise!  So, after the mosque, there we were, in front of the old museum – and there was my Hittite lion, still standing out front!  He hasn’t moved an INCH in years!!  Bummer!! 

Once past the museum, we headed toward Hotel Senbayrak, where we had stayed previously.  (Lovely hotel, and we had a fabulous suite, but I did want a room with a view for R’s birthday!)  Believe it or not, with all the dust and wind and traffic (Adana is traffic-central in Turkey!) we were able to get within a few blocks of the hotel before we needed to stop and ask directions.  I wanted to find the hotel, as I remembered that the jewelry shops around it seemed to have good prices last time we were here.

Look at those white mountains in the background!

Night falls in Adana!

So … jewelry shops.  Went into one, and truly – very disappointing!  They had piles of gold bracelets, but were we asking if it was as a gift – such as wedding? – or to wear for everyday use?  We’re talking everyday use.  They showed us several that they said were not for everyday wear, as they could “break” – and of course, those were the ones I preferred!  Decided maybe not, and left the store.  Looked at a few more windows, and across the street from the old hotel, found a nice store (possibly part of a chain, but it’s hard for us to know) and tried it again.  This time, we had much better results!  They have a specialty bracelet called the Adana Something-or-other (which I will find out) out of 22K gold, which was just lovely!  We looked and priced two versions of the bracelet.  Again, this all depends on the amount of gold, the larger the amount, the bigger the bracelet.  Robert wrote all the figures down and we said we wanted to think about it – refused the Turkish coffee and the chai (tea) they offered, but did take a bit of Turkish delight on the way out.  Walked around the corner to chat for a bit, and then went into the local Migros grocery store, as I was looking for a cake!  However, no such luck – it was just a small store, and no real bakery.  Bummer … At this point, R decided that his leg needed a rest, and how could I argue?  It’s his birthday!  So, into a very smoky cab for the ride across the river and to the hotel.  (Sounds like Grandmother’s house!) 

Executive Lounge on 16th floor

Me at dinner

It was GREAT spaghetti!

R's sea bass!

Back to our room, and OM Gosh!  There was a lovely small chocolate dessert/cake with a candle in it and caramel around it, along with several nice bottles of sparkling and still water!  Also matches with which to light the candle!  Wow!  SO nice of the folks here to take the time to do that for us!  We are very, very pleased!  We both sang Happy Birthday again, and R divided the cake between the two of us, and it was really delicious. 

R then set about doing the accounting for the day, and I opted for a BATH!  (As it turns out, we not only have two rooms, but we have two bathtubs and two shower compartments!  Wow!)  Filled the tub up with lots of wonderful bubbles and had a wonderful soak.  I really, truly miss bathtubs when I’m away from my own tub.  R then showered – he said that the smoke from the cab was what bothered him the most, but my eyes were really having problems with the dust.  And in answer to the question: “Did you remember to pack your eye drops this time unlike the last time you were in Turkey and got Pink Eye without them?” - Yes, I have my antibiotic eye drops right with me “just in case!”)

We will be heading upstairs to the Executive Lounge for a glass of wine soon, and then downstairs to figure out what to have for dinner!  Looks like the choices are between the Spice Market Restaurant and a combination Chinese/Sushi restaurant … hmmm… R will get to choose!

More later!

m

xxx

Up to the 16^th floor and their lovely Executive Lounge for drinks and munchies before dinner.  They had some lovely things to eat, which was fun, but we didn’t want to spoil dinner.  Their red wine was very good, and I even got possession of the TV remote, so I was able to change it from BBC News to EuroSport 1!  (And where were you when Roger and Rafa were playing … ?)

Down to dinner about 7, in the Spice Market restaurant.  Very nice place; not too many other people.  R ordered sea bass (again!), which came with grilled vegetables.  I was in need of “comfort food” and ordered spaghetti with Bolognaise sauce.  It was terrific, and just exactly what I needed!  Back upstairs just before 8 pm to enjoy some quiet reading time; very much enjoying our suite!

That’s all for now; much love to all!

m

xxx