turkey
Istanbul Tour With Ayah Mak | Istanbul, Turkey
August 6, 2017
It feels a bit funny to write this post as I realized I just finish writing about my road trip around Istanbul (Where East Meets West) and most of the places we went have been shared in my previous posts. Haha, but let's just see how this post will lead me to.
10th July 2017
Istanbul, Turkey
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| Europe Trip started here! |
We left the country with Turkish Airlines. My previous flight with my parents was 2 years ago when we were on our way from London, UK to Geneva, Switzerland. Yep, that was from our first Europe trip (so-called Europe Trip 1.0 - more to come hopefully, ameen!) Since Turkish Airlines is not a low-cost airline, I felt relieved at least for them to have a proper, chosen seat and proper meal on board. For meal, we personally prefer Emirates. If you guys love cheesy food, Turkish Airlines suits you more :D
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| 4 checked in luggage - one for Ayah, one for Mak, the rest were food (plus kitchen utensils). |
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| Well, cliche. :D |
I don't know what happened to the flight air-conditioner that time, but it felt warm on board. We were a bit sweating. T_T
Arrived Istanbul on time, we decided to walk directly to the praying room. It is quite close to Gate 219 (if I'm not mistaken), seems like I have no idea if there is another praying room around departure area.
Done with prayers, we continued to the arrival to get to the hotel desk. Fuh, the queue at the passport control was not a joke, it took more than half an hour just to get our passports stamped! I feel glad that I have some experiences with this airport, at least I have some idea to walk around. Save time, save energy. -_-'
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| Breakfast with Mr. Potato. I persuaded Ayah to buy a cup of coffee from Starbucks just for the sake of sitting there, even though this was my first time with Starbucks. Sorry, I don't know why I don't feel good to sit in any restaurants without buying anything. Hee. |
Istanbul was scorching hot that day. Trust me, prepare yourselves with good sunscreen lotion especially with SPF50+ if you are planning to come to Istanbul in July. :D
If you have a long transit / lay over in Istanbul (Ataturk) Airport, simply request for Istanbul Tour / free meal voucher.
Our tour group was quite big that time - about 2 buses (maybe around 40 people?). We are eligible for 9am-3pm tour since our connecting flight was around 4.30pm. The tentative was roughly like this:
- Departure from Istanbul Ataturk Airport
- Breakfast
- Blue Mosque
- Hippodrome: German Fountain
- Serpentine Column
- Obelisk of Theodosius
- Topkapi Palace / Hagia Sophia Museum
- Lunch
- Return to Istanbul Ataturk Airport
Haha, see, I posted at least some points for each attractions :) Click if you want to read, yea?
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| Our tour group - the guide was explaining about Hippodrome. |
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| German Fountain |
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| Obelisk of Theodosius |
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| Blue Mosque |
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| They looked cute though in those cloth :) |
I have witnessed the same procedure in mosque in Malaysia (for example Putrajaya) where foreign / non-Muslim will receive this kind of clothes to cover themselves. Just, in Putrajaya, they are not allowed to enter the praying areas (so far that I know), but here in Blue Mosque, everyone is welcomed inside.
From this view, I am a bit confused with the saying that says women with menstruation are not allowed to enter mosques. How can we know that fact among these non-Muslims?
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| Inside Blue Mosque. Mak said that there were too many people, it was hard to enjoy spiritually. I just realized, here similar to the interior of Hagia Sophia we can see the names of Khulafa' Ar-Rasyidin and the grandsons of Prophet Muhammad - Hasan & Husein. |
Upon leaving Blue Mosque for Topkapi Museum, Mak kept mentioning the roasted corn. T_T Fuh, I did not have any Lira, but thankfully the hawkers accept Euro coins (the big one like one and two Euros). So, craving fulfilled :p Bought chestnuts as well. Haha
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| Standing on European side of Turkey, at the back is the Asian side. Most historical sites are located in European side. |
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| The sea... Mesmerizing! |
What else can I share in this post.....?
Hmm maybe my personal comments about the tour?
- This type of tour (9am-3pm) involves a lot of walking. Please bear in mind and put this into consideration if you are planning to join the tour with the elders.
- Food, entrance fee and all transportation you use during this tour are for free.
- Mind that the food may not be according to your taste and the food is Turkish style. But, why not have a try? :D
- Istanbul was really hot that time. Prepare your own water. Don't drink from the tap water, not recommended.
- There are few souvenir shops just outside Blue Mosque (the entrance facing the Hippodrome). For this specific type of tour (9am-3pm), you don't have the chance to go shopping at any bazaar. Unless if you are eligible for another type of tour (9am-6pm). So, be prepared with some Turkish Lira in advanced if you wanna buy some souvenirs.
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| Hagia Sophia, maybe next time? |
- Ask the tour guide at what time the bus will leave for the airport. You may get lost or get separated from the tour group, so at least you know where you can meet them again to catch your connecting flights.
- Prepare a good camera as you can either listen to the tour guide or wander around. I mean, if there is any view that catch your heart, directly snap it! You may not have the chance to return to that specific point.
- All in all, the tour is hectic even for me. I have a feeling my parents would love to come again and enjoy the city slowly. :) But, we should not complain as everything is for FREE, remember that :)
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| With the background of Blue Mosque. |
Till we meet again, Turkey. :)
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170806
Yeay, alhamdulillah, this one will be the final part of my WEMW travelogue. :)
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| The best part of road trip... stamps on the passport! |
We left Istanbul, still with no idea how the highways in Turkey work (I mean how to pay the toll). Although we had few challenges entering Turkey, alhamdulillah the return journey was okay. Custom officers let us go without any inspections. Well, they already have all data in the systems, why should they stop us at the border... we were leaving anyway.
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| Resting at the R&R, have I told you that most petrol stations provide free WiFi? |
Just, the funny part of entering Bulgaria at this border point (Turkey-Bulgaria) was when we need to get our car disinfected. I was not sure for what reason but after returning home, I found out it was for Food & Mouth Disease (FMD). Hmm, but still... why to the car?
It was not for free though. -_-'
Entering Romania again, via Giurgiu-Rousse Friendship Bridge.
Romania was very beautiful, especially at the countryside. Unfortunately, we always driving through this country when it was approaching night time. Mountains along the way, lakes as well (we could just see reflections of moon on the water). Just, there were not much of highways, so, expect to drive on one lane road for each direction.
Keep patience when there will be lots of lorries in front of the car and you will be scared to cross them. T_T
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| Countryside of Romania. |
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| Sunset in Romania. |
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| Beautiful view! |
We were on the road for the whole night, taking turns to drive. But, somewhere we felt something wrong with the car. T_T
Flat tire.
We know the theory of changing flat tire but... haha we did not want to risk our life doing so in the middle of the night out of nowhere. So, we decided to stop at the next petrol station and requested the worker there to help. He was nice to change for free :)
The bad part was, the extra tire was in the boot... with all our stuffs ON TOP OF IT. Imagine the situation when we need to unload our stuffs to take the extra tire and all equipment needed. I still remember it was very cold!
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| Buda Castle, I think. |
Crossing the border of Romania-Hungary was another funny experience. (I hope I remember correctly haha)
The car queue at the customs was quite long, so the driver (I am not sure was it me or Azila) tried her best to keep awake. Suddenly someone honked at us. It woke everyone up to see there was no more queue there!
Our car was in the middle of the road in front of customs and everyone was asleep!
-_-' heeee
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| The funicular. |
Arrived Budapest early morning, I think just before sunrise. If you are wondering where did we pray along the journey... sometimes we took turn to pray outside at the petrol stations, but when it was really cold we prayed in the car.
We parked the car somewhere close to the funicular and walked around the city. I will not share much about Budapest in this post, as I have been there before... in 2012.
If maybe you want to read more about this classical city, refer these link. :)
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - PART 1
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| View of Chain Bridge from the funicular. |
We had our lunch at a seafood restaurant in Pest.
Important things to remember when you want to park your car in Europe:
- Make sure it is NOT parking area for residents. For most buildings in Europe, there are flats on the first floor upwards so some people already pay for their own parking spots (just avoid the spots with plate numbers).
- Make sure you pay the parking fee (if it is stated there)
- Make sure your valuable items are stored safely, even it is just the GPS.
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| Our #4000kmroadtrip |
This map marks the end of my road trip travelogue with my amazing friends. Really, if we want to get to know someone, travel together. We will see how we react through thick and thin of the trip.
Yes, I have LOTSSS of weaknesses / bad habits / annoying attitudes that I only realized after travelling with other people.
Consider travelling as a way to get to know ourselves as well. :)
Self-reflection, yea?
HK, Czech
170503
[Roadtrip] WEMW : Istanbul, Turkey - Part 3
May 2, 2017
My travelogues always stop abruptly. T_T
But, I am trying to clean my draft by publishing any posts that look complete (haha maybe). So, here you go... a continuation of our very first road trip from Hradec Kralove, Czech to Istanbul, Turkey with a total journey of approximately 4000km.
The journey covers many countries, roughly the routes were like this.
- Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic
- Bratislava, Slovakia
- Budapest, Hungary
- Bucharest, Romania
- Sofia, Bulgaria
- Istanbul, Turkey
It was from January 2015 though.
[ROADTRIP] WHERE EAST MEETS WEST
[ROADTRIP] WHERE EAST MEETS WEST - PART 1
[ROADTRIP] WHERE EAST MEETS WEST - PART 2
[ROADTRIP] WHERE EAST MEETS WEST - PART 3
[ROADTRIP] WEMW : ISTANBUL, TURKEY - PART 1
------------------------
The 2nd day in Istanbul was smooth :) The day started with freshly squeezed juices - pomegranate and orange. This squeezer was sold in many markets around here, so if you would love to buy one, just ask around.
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| Pomegranate |
Since we were going to leave Istanbul that night, we need to check out from the apartment. We discussed on how were we going to spend the day - either walking, or by public transportation or by car. If by car, where should we park it?
Fortunately, the owner of the apartment allowed us to keep our stuffs there while we can just explore Istanbul without having to worry about our bags. About the car, after checking its safety, 2 Turkish men ensured us that we didn't need for the parking, although it was already 2nd of January. Alhamdulillah.
On our way to the next attraction (Hagia Sophia), we once again walked passing Blue Mosque and Hippodrome of Constantinople.
Hippodrome - Sultan Ahmet Square.
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| Serpent Column |
The Hippodrome is basically an area for horse racing between political parties that day. In the square, you can see quite a number of statues or monuments - preserved for history. Most of them were brought to this Hippodrome to introduce Constantinople as a capital city.
- Serpent Column - the significant of this monument is the victory of Greeks in Persian Wars. It was originally located in Delphi, Greece.
- Obelisk of Thutmose - this one was from Egypt and brought to Hippodrome by another emperor. It weighed about 200 tonnes and I heard they took about 21 days to lift it up!
- German Fountain - it was built to acknowledge the visit of German Emperor to Istanbul. It was brought from German by pieces was a source of water for the people, that is why we can see water taps there. It is still functioning but my tour guide said it is not drinkable. Visitors can also see signatures between Germany and Turkey at the fountain.
Okay, let's continue with Hagia Sophia.
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| From outside. |
Hagia / haya means divine, while Sofia means intelligence. This Greek name simply means goddess of intelligence. The first construction was when Christian conquered this city, then took over by Ottoman Empire.
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| The drawing of Mary in the middle. |
When Islam came, Muslims covered most drawings on the wall with plasters to avoid Muslims from worshiping the statues. But, after this place was decided to be opened to public, workers currently are still on their way to uncover back to show to people the beauty of this place, as a museum. It was opened to public in 1985.
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| Islamic style on the wooden wall. |
In Hagia Sophia, we can see this building is facing Jerusalem. So, a mihrab was built to face Makkah instead. If you have been here, you can see the name Allah, Muhammad, the 4 caliphs, Hasan and Husin hanged on the wall. They were made in Hagia Sophia itself as the sizes were too big.
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| I am not sure about this wall. |
Done with Hagia Sophia, we went for lunch, so hungry! We didn't really check beforehand about places to eat. So, while walking towards Spice Bazaar (I think), we just chose any restaurant that looked interesting.
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| Pehlivan - two storey restaurants |
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| It served dishes like this. You can choose any cooked meal you want. |
Grand Bazaar.
Can't help with the direction and how to get there although I went there once again last year -_-'
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| Spice Bazaar. I hope I remember correctly, a bit confused if we went to this one or Grand Bazaar. |
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| Pashmina shopping. |
Finally, it was time to leave. We returned to the apartment to take our luggage and reorganize stuffs in the car.
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| Final result. :) |
I think I have shared the video for this road trip somewhere in this blog. But, never mind, since this was one of our greatest life achievement, let me embedded it once again. Thanks Maryam for this beautiful video!
p/s - one more post and I think I am done with WEMW roadtrip. Yeay!
HK, Czech
170502
6 'Awkward' Moments at Ataturk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey
November 25, 2016
Yes, as some of you already know, I am in Malaysia right now. You will not see my visit from Czech Republic for a while on your blog's live.feedjit widget. :D
Gonna spend about a month doing elective in a hospital here. It's going to be hard (maybe) as I am doing alone. Pray that I can go through every single day with calmness and ease. :)
Again, this time, my homebound journey is by Turkish Airlines via Istanbul. I love this city, honestly but I don't fancy much the airport. Maybe I've set a bench mark of Dubai as my favourite airport for now (despite it's so busy as well). Even though it was my 5th time transit in this airport, I still don't have ideas what should I do here. I've been to almost every inch of public area, walk from gates to gates, I don't know what else to explore.
And the free 2 hours WiFi over a week. Hmmm. Man, I have at least 4 hours to kill here.
I landed Ataturk airport on Wednesday at noon. No security control, no passport control needed - I went straight to connecting flights. Planned to perform prayers, here was the first awkward moment for me.
Can I have that tissues, please?
I went to the ablution room, it was not that big. The first thing I did was to take the tissue from the machine, well I don't want to let my socks wet and smelly. Use tissues to wipe the feet before putting the socks on. When I was literally collecting tissues from the machine with hand sensor, I already took about 4-5 layers of tissues. Suddenly, a lady came to me and ask, 'can I have that tissues, please?'
It was seriously awkward for me.
Like, why?
Prayers time.
The frame that show list of prayer times was not working. I had no idea if Zuhur was already over or not. I didn't know should I do jamak takhir or jamak takdim. There were some lady in the prayer room as well, but they couldn't speak English.
The only thing I ask with appropriate hand gesture was...
"Zuhur..?" "Asar?..."
Awkward, but luckily she understood. She said "Zuhur. Asar no."
"I'm sorry, but your transit time is only 4 hours and half."
And I need only 30 minutes more to be eligible for free meal voucher. HAHA. I would love to persuade him to just give me the voucher, but.... it was a bit awkward.
Told ya, I was so boring that I walked around the airport with my hand luggage and backpack. Gigih sangat. Expecting to meet some Malaysians but I couldn't see any. Wow, that was weird.
Walking around too much, I suddenly feel hungry again. I didn't want to spend € 10 just for a sandwich, so I tried my luck to ask the care point for any meal voucher. At the care point, there was some argument between a passenger and a worker. Not really sure what were they arguing about but it made the rest of us to wait in a long queue. And it's getting longer until a new counter need to be opened. Haha.
So, I didn't get any voucher. And I was hungry.
I checked my backpack if I have any sweets. I totally forgot my friend prepared slices of bread with Nutella. Ya Allah, I feel so ashamed of myself T_T
Thank you Bainun :D
"But, I thought the book is only € 8?"
I went to a bookstore to see the book I've been eyeing since my previous transit. Yes, it's still there and I think I should buy it for my next 10hours' connecting flight from Istanbul to Kuala Lumpur (although I know I would sleep most of the time).
Decided to buy, I took the book to the counter. After scanning, the guy over the counter said 'the total is € 8.50" Eh eh, mana datang lagi € 0.50? "But, I thought the book is only € 8?"
At the end, she still didn't answer. Awkward silence. I just gave my card to be swiped and before leaving the store, I told her, "I'm sorry but please make sure you check the prices from time to time before putting price tags on the book"
I am so sorry to say this. But, at least answer me with something like "I am sorry but maybe there's something wrong with the system." A single sorry can soften someone's heart, remember that.
I learned from someone's experience when he accidentally payed about RM 50 for a bag from Mydin when it was actually cost RM 15!
"Eh, I thought I have one hour more?"
That's my inner thought.
Guess what, I was so nervous when I saw the flight schedules. I was supposed to be at the boarding gate about 18:05 (the flight was scheduled to take off at 19:05). At that time my phone's clock showed 17:05. Eh, why? I have one hour more, right?
Surprisingly, again I totally forgot Turkish Airlines sent emails so many times to inform me that Turkey decided not to follow daylight saving time (DST). The funny thing was, I set my phone's clock to auto-update based on the location since the day I bought it. It never failed to show the correct time. But, I think (maybe) Turkey's decision was quite sudden that the world clock didn't managed to update itself. :p
Seriously, the wall clock in Ataturk Airport showed 18:05 when it was 17:05 on my phone. T_T
What if I go to the gate at 18:05 (my phone's clock)?
Hahaha, I don't want to imagine that! Awkwardly terrifying!
So, moral here is be alert with the local time!
"Boarding completed"
The moment the cabin crew made this announcement, it simply means, they will not receive any upcoming passengers and they will close the door (from my understanding).
I was quite shocked when I heard this announcement, then I looked around inside the plane, "there's still many empty seats?"
And yes, you can imagine how empty the plane was when we literally have a row per person to lie down comfortably, conquering 2-4 seats, 2-4 pillows, 2-4 blankets, 2-4 screens for EACH of us.
Awkwardly heaven.
p/s - Have you experience any awkward moments at the airport?
SS, Perak, Malaysia
161125
Free Meal Voucher | Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkey
October 4, 2016
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| Ataturk Havalimani Airport, Istanbul, Turkey |
Staying at the airport is a 'boring' thing to do. And it is even worst when the free WiFi given is only for 2 hours! T__T
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| Travel light. Konon. |
€55 for a night in 5* hotel!
So, how to request for free meal?
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| how the care point looks like. |
2. Show your boarding pass, wait for the officer to process your request. Then, you will get a paper like this.
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| yep, an A4 paper. Haha |
3. Find the given kiosk/restaurant. In my case, I was only allowed to get meal from Freshly Baked. So.... this is the place. Oh yeah, the meal vouchers are for food from kiosks / restaurants in the food court.
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| Freshly Baked. |
4. Show the meal voucher and ask what can you get. They will serve you :)
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| I had this for breakfast. :) |
So, chicken sandwich and orange juice for breakfast.
It worth at least 15 Lira. Okay la tuu, free kot.
Till then,
I started the school session yesterday, will try to update the blog as frequently as I can.
:)
Take care!
HK, Czech
161004
[Roadtrip] WEMW : Istanbul, Turkey - Part 2
January 22, 2015
Blue Mosque;
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| Rainy day. Picture credit to Maryam |
It is an historical mosque in Istanbul, built between 1609 - 1616 and alhamdulillah, of course open for prayers and visitors. Although it is said to be closed to non-Muslim during 5 daily prayers, we can still see non-Muslim sit there in the mosque.
So, I must state that it is a great place for tourists to witness themselves how Muslim perform prayers and insyAllah, may they get hidayah from Allah to know more about Islam :) There is information room in the mosque for those who would like to learn Islam too. MashaAllah!
Called as Sultanahmet Camii, and why it is known as Blue Mosque?
It is because of the interior design that is made with many blue tiles. :) Art work!
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| The dome. |
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| Islamic designs. |
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| The chandelier. |
I thought the chandelier will be high up at the dome. :D Hihi. It is safe enough to make it lower, I guess.
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| Aha, the praying area for men is restricted only for men who want to pray. So, they have the advantage to see the front side of mosque :) |
By the way, there is no charge to enter Blue Mosque and it provides us with free plastic bags to put our shoes in and bring it inside. And since it is a mosque, women need to cover their head and don't worry, there are head coverings available too, still for free!
I think I found it awkward here with the mixed entrance for men and women. I mean, like there is less barrier between both genders to enter the praying area. Be careful to keep the wudu'. T_T Ahaa, places for wudu' for men, is when you enter the mosque. It was cold back then. ;p What we did was, just use bottled waters. Well, nowadays, people know it is enough to use a bottle of water for wudu' right? . :)
Done with praying, it was time to fill the stomach. Alhamdulillah, there was no problem to find halal food! Most Turkish are Muslim and they served halal food. even KFC. Wohoooo.
We went to this restaurant (I can't recall the name), and the main reason was that, it is once TripAdvisor's choice! Haha. Located close to Blue Mosque and we don't have that strength to find any other restaurant. :p We need energy! ^_^
Breads are free in restaurants in Istanbul, I think. And the soup was delicious. I was searching for the spices to make the soup, but no luck :p
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| Most of the customers are foreigners, and unexpectedly, we were in between 2 tables with Korean tourists. And the rest, mostly Asians. Haha. :D |
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| One of street close to the restaurant. New Year in Istanbul! |
So, what's next? Let's go to Taksim Square! We took metro from Vezneciler station. The token costs about 4 L per ride. Not that reasonable :(
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| Metro crossing river :) |
I used to think metro = subway = underground. But when I reach Istanbul, the metro here can be underground and can also be on ground. Similar to Munich, if I'm not mistaken.
And I should not underestimate the depth of metro station in Istanbul! There was a lift (going down) on top of Vezneciler metro station and escalators just beside it. I wonder why people use lifts, and they even wait for another trip when the lift was full. But, we just use the short escalators and thought we already arrived at the ticket machine.
Ya Allah, there was at least 3 - 4 floors down there, connected by escalators. Fuhh, it was really mental torturing as we were expecting the entrance to the metro on each floor we went. T__T
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| Black coats; most of them I can say. And we; colorful clothes :) |
And as we get out of the metro station, we can see this; the Taksim Square.
In the center, stands the Monument of the Republic; to remember the formation of Turkish Republic. Hmmm, suddenly I feel awkward knowing this. The monument portray the founder of the Republic, Kamal Ataturk. Hmm, his pictures were everywhere, even in most shops that we went. I can feel the strong influence he brought to Turkey T_T.
But still...... hmmm.
Maybe because it was night, I can't really see how big was the square. From my reading, this place is famous with public events like parades, protests and festivals. Basically, Taksim Square is the gateway to Istiklal street; which surrounded with many branded shops, restaurants, malls, and hotels.
One thing that I remember from this square was; I saw a policeman threw used tissue to the ground. T_T There were many other polices so I don't have the gut to pick it up as it was quite close to him. I feel sorry for him and myself.
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| Istiklal street; crowded with people shopping with New Year's discounts. |
The streets in Istanbul, literally NEVER sleep; especially this one - Istiklal street. For those who love nightlife and shopping, this street is really suitable for you.
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| Mussels - Kupang? |
There were many street food; like Turkish chicken rice, roasted chestnut, roasted/steamed corn. My friend and I tried this! Mussels with lemon. It looks scary to eat at first and I thought it was still alive. 1 Lira for two mussels. Just say how much you want, the hawker will serve it for you. After finished eating, only then you pay. There were few people who can't stop eating it and he spent nearly 10 Lira for this (20 mussels!) . :)
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| For me the lemon covered the real taste of mussels, but it was really okay. I cannot imaging myself eating it without lemon. :) |
Actually, there was another reason why we was so excited to go there. We want KFC for late dinner! We used to have a halal fast-food restaurant in Hradec Kralove, Czech, called CFC - California Fried Chicken but we don't know why it is still closed till now. T_T Other than this, NONE.
Memories in KFC were kind of memorable too. Greeted with dirty tables; full with uneaten food left by the customers. There were fries on the floor, some ketchup too! T_T It was heart-breaking to see this.
Ordering the menu was not that easy too. :0 All menu were written in Turkish language, and of course the menu was not the same like in Malaysia; so we didn't really know what to order. But, the cashier was being good to ask us, what do you want to buy? How many wings, how many drumsticks and only then he suggested the menu that was suitable for us. :)
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| From metro to funicular |
Getting back to the apartment was another interesting story. Since we would like to reach closer to the apartment, we changed to tram. But, there was no direct tram from Taksim to Sultanahmet (maybe). So, we need to take funicular to Kabatas, then by tram to Sultanahmet.
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| Changed from funicular to tramvaj |
The funicular was a bit frustrating. Haha. I thought I can see the view of a part of Istanbul from the funicular like when I went up Penang Hill or Buda Castle of Budapest.
But, none! Ouchhh, the route of the funicular was NOT transparent. And it just feel like moving downwards in a building. T_T And to make it more frustrating, funicular and tram needed 2 tokens! Haha,
I took it as experience; to forget about the frustration. :D
At least, the public transportation here is efficient enough with no delay and clean. :)
After reaching the tram stop, we walked to the apartment. The funny thing was, we didn't know the way home!
But, none! Ouchhh, the route of the funicular was NOT transparent. And it just feel like moving downwards in a building. T_T And to make it more frustrating, funicular and tram needed 2 tokens! Haha,
I took it as experience; to forget about the frustration. :D
At least, the public transportation here is efficient enough with no delay and clean. :)
After reaching the tram stop, we walked to the apartment. The funny thing was, we didn't know the way home!
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| Still remember this picture in one of the previous posts? |
We stopped at one Kebab shop, trying to ask direction. He asked about the business card of the apartment. Ouch, we forgot to bring it. Fortunately, I have the picture above in my phone. It was a bit risky to show the phone to a stranger, But, we surrounded him against the shop, just to make it secured T_T
There was another sentences written between the red and blue-green part - Kucuk Ayasofea. Only then, he said he know it :) And he gave us the right direction, and we saw our car! Alhamdulillah.
Weird thing about parking here. Since the area is not that big to have a proper parking area, Turkish people said you can park anywhere, as long it doesn't affect other cars to use the road. Polices can warn you but they will not give you penalty. :D And we were already in Istanbul for 2 public holidays - New Year's Eve and New Year - making it confirmed to have free parking! Wohooo.
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| This is another place to park the car. just, it is not free. And risky thing is you need to give your car key to the guard. Like you can see in the picture, they park the car blocking one another to save space, so, they need the car key to move the car. |
As I mentioned earlier, most streets in Istanbul never sleep. We can still see many people around but the scary thing was, majority of them were male. T___T I wonder where were Turkish's women. So, I think, if you are a girl/woman, take this into account and think to go to Istanbul with at least a friend to accompany you. :)
We reached the apartment near midnight, had KFC for supper, had a tablet of Ibalgin (like Panadol), and prepare to have a good sleep for tomorrow's adventure!
p/s - I tried to use the same chronology like I had there, so, sorry if you can't understand the transition of one place to another. T_T
Part 3 next, :)
Assalamualaikum.
v Khaulah,
150121
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