day 7: cappadocia, ankara & bolu - father of all turks

Our first stop today was the underground city, which was a place of refuge for Christians against pegans who were persecuting and killing them. The one we visited was small, with three-storeys, while the bigger ones can go up to ten-storeys with 30km of corridoors and passageways and housed over 15,000 Christians.

The corridoors were extremely narrow, even for me, and I had to bend down to pass some of them. The rooms had alters facing Jerusalem and until today archaeologists still do not know how the ancient Christians could figure out their bearings underground to such accuracy. Because of the ash covering, it feels like the entire area was air-conditioned even during summer. We saw the water well, wine cellar, original round stone doors, kitchen, and other rooms. Koray said that every city has a secret passage from the deepest level back up to the ground level. In the event that the attackers breached the entrance, the Christians would move deeper down and seal the entrance to the higher floor. One underground city even has a 30-km long secret passageway to another city.

If we were on a free-and-easy trip, I would have loved to spend more time to explore these underground cities built in the 12th and I3th century!

Salt Lake is a wide and long stretch of lake which has sea water flowing into it with no outflow. Under the hot Turkish sun, the sea water dries over time, leaving a blanket of salt. It is quite a grand view, much like it had just snowed over the land.

Mausoleum of Ataturk

Mustafa Kemal is a very important man in the hearts of the Turkish people. After the first world war, the coastal borders of Turkey were being overtaken by the Europeans, the Turks were pushed to the inlands and to the East. Mustafa Kemal gathered an army, with his headquarter in Ankara, fought over the lands from the Europeans and won independence for Turkey.

Mustafa Kemal set up a democratic government to replace the Ottoman empire. This is the reason that Turkey has a secular government although 99 per cent of its citizen are Muslim. He also established the last name system in Turkey and Koray explained how his grandfather got Kuzu which means 'lamb' as his family name. Mustafa Kemal was given 'Artaturk' which means Father of the Turks, as his surname to recognise his work for the people.

After hearing the inspiring story of Mustafa Kemal, I understood why the Mausoleum of Ataturk is so magnificent. Located on an imposing hill, the museum recounts the history of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk through paintings and photographs. In the mausoleum lies Mustafa Kemal's coffin but his body is burried in the ground under it, which is out of bounds to public.

We then started a three hour drive to the scenic countryside town Bolu, which is a mid point stop in our journey back to Istanbul.

• Costs: 12 Lira Baksitas football club mug, 2.50 Lira chocolate snack
• Highlight: Learning the modern history of Turkey and about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (similar founding figure as LKY is to Singapore)
• Hotel: Koru - Located in the country side of Bolu, it has a different feel from the other hotels. Surrounded by trees, I love the feel of nature, it even has birds and fish in the lobby. It is also cool because it's on high ground, so the room doesn't come with aircon.
• Lunch: Gar Restaurant - we are getting super bored of bread, lentil soup, and salad with lettuce, tomato and cucumber. For main, we had chicken breast cubes and tomatoes served on a hot metal plate. Frankly not my favourite meal.