Adana, General Impressions

After a week in Adana, Turkey, here's what I'm going to remember: I got to try Raki (licorice liquor) and Efes lager which were both decent; fermented black carrot juice is an acquired taste; free carrot Turkish delights at the hotel;  shish kabobs and mousses for dinner. At least I didn't go hungry here.

I saw herd of sheep on way to airport, maybe a protest of some kind or just bad city planning?

See the sheep under the orange banner?

Sabancı Merkez Camii
(Sabancı Central Mosque)

a fish from the river

It was kind of funny to see guys in suits facing the wall to put their belts on after passing through the secondary security screening. Then again, the first step in the Turkish Airlines emergency video is to "loosen neckties". The meal service also had metal flatware... I didn't know airlines still did that anymore (at least not for coach).

The night air was heavy with the scent of wood-burning fireplaces. And Hazy. I had the presence of mind to keep my camera on me while boarding and got this pic of the Taurus mountains in the haze.

I'm the shadow on the left, blocking traffic on the stairs

I did get exit rows on both flights, but I doubt that my gates at Istanbul could have been any farther apart. But in the course of walking through the entire airport, I did get to see a wide variety of people in transit, notably one group of men and women travelling together that I'm assuming were on a religious trip. The women had the usual black abaya, but the men were wearing white terrycloth robes and sandals like they got lost coming out of a spa and found themselves at the airport. The little kid that was with them was also in white but was wearing the terrycloth more like a shawl. I had briefly considered taking a picture of them but didn't for two reasons. 1) I wasn't sure about their religious views on photography. 2) we were all processing customs and immigration...so I figured a picture didn't warrant bringing undue attention on myself from the Turkish authorities.  

Once through security, I walked to the end of the international terminal, turned a corner and kept going, went down some stairs and went farther still. Gate 504. I had just walked up to my departure gate when they started boarding.