My last Hosta Piknik Döner

Today I went to Ulus with Jenna. Ulus is my favorite part of Ankara, it is the historic old district with bazaar type shopping. You can find everything you need in Ulus and it is full of personality. I know some people here don't care for it, but on the other hand it was my Dad's favorite part as well. As he said, it is the real Turkey. I love going to Ulus, there are loads of neat shops. I go often enough that I have certain shops were I know I get the best deals because I frequent their stores and bring my friends to their stores.

I just hit me this week how soon my life in Turkey is going to end. I feel pretty weepy any time I start to think too much about it. Part of the process of saying goodbye is not only saying goodbye to people, but to places and things that are special to you as well. Ulus is special to me. I have loads of great memories of trips to Ulus, most of them with Jenna. We typically go early in the morning, start at the top of the hill, work our way down, then finish with chicken döner at the bottom of the hill.

I've planned a trip to Ulus in two weeks, a tradition I've had every year, we go the morning of the staff banquet. However, I wanted to go one other time with just Jenna and me, so we decided to go today. We kept with tradition. We took a bus to Ulus. I got a simit and juice, then we took a taxi to the castle at the top. We got lots of great deals and as usual I bought some presents that I really want to keep myself! When we go in two weeks, we've made a deal to go to this amazing Mantı restaurant, so this was our last time to get döner in Ulus.

Hosta Piknik is a chain fast food restaurant. Döner is meat cooked on a spit. You place your order with the cashier, then take your receipt to the proper line. This was all very confusing when I spoke very little Turkish. It is a lot less stressful now that I know what to do. As you can see I put a lot of extra fries on mine. It is basically a sandwich with chicken, onions, lettuce and tomato; very similar to a Greek gyro. It is definitely one of the Turkish foods I am going to miss the most. Though I'm smiling in the picture, I was choking back tears as I realized, this was my last Hosta Piknik döner in Ulus.