Intriguing Istanbul Part 1

Salam darlings. How are you? I have always intended to write here tapi niat selalu tak kesampaian. Nevertheless hari ni akan tulis juga. We just returned from a trip (nothing like the excitement of writing after a vacation I suppose..).

Anyhow. I felt compelled to leave the daily humdrum and get away for a while. And we were thinking of Melbourne (the rugged coastline and the adorable cafes looked interesting) or Istanbul (with the great history and architecture and often touted as the romantic place where east meets west over the Straits of Bosphorus. And somehow the Orient Express comes to mind). I wanted to do Marrakech and Spain as well. Including Athens and Santorini! Haha  itu lah manusia tak cukup2.

Anyway we did Istanbul. And yeay! It was indeed a wonderful trip. And of course I have a few photos (although wishing that I can share them all).


The beautiful Blue Mosque by night.

We stayed at the Sultanahmet neighborhood; the historical part of Istanbul. Everything we wanted to do are located there; Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace including the Grand Bazaar and lots of other interesting places to visit.

We got the apartment through TripAdvisor. Walaupun mencari merata. Dan apartment amat selesa for the four of us. Clean. Dan agak recently renovated. With a small kitchen equipped with periuk, dapur, microwave and fridge and plates and everything you need (we didn't plan to eat out all the time..)

Our first meal - Turkish breakfast. Turkish bread yang sangat sedap dengan cheese dan yogurt and honey. Olives. The sweetest tomato we have ever tasted. Omelette. And lentil soup yang panas. And of course Turkish tea (their tea is strong. Unfortunately tea like this is not my cup of tea! - pun intended haha). Anyways I didn't expect breakfast macam ni sedap; but it was. Sangat sedap actually.

We visited the Blue Mosque where entrance is free (of course, it is a masjid after all) and Hagia Sophia (charged). Dua2 pun sangat cantik. Bangunan tua yang penuh sejarah. Tak boleh imagine the hard work required to get the buildings up without modern machinery.

The masjid is still in use dan visiting is only allowed during non-prayer times.

 

The masjid memang sangat cantik. The dome, the courtyard and its grounds. The rustic chandelier. And the size of the columns are beyond belief. Sangat lah besar.

And we did the Hagia Sophia. First a church then a mosque. And during Ataturk's reign was turned into a museum. Till today.

Hagia Sophia is beautiful inside as well as out. Saya suka cobbled stone flooring yang mendaki ke tingkat atas tanpa tangga dengan laluan yang landai. Which makes me think that carts might have been used to transport supply to the upper floors.

Aya Sophia (as the Turks call it) at night. Memang tersergam cantik.

Turkish food is in fact delightful (I mean talk about Turkish delights). We had dinner at the recommended Doydoy Restaurant with the beautiful Blue Mosque view in the background. It was quite surreal. The food was good too here. Rupa2nya Doydoy ni agak popular because when we told the cab driver to drop us at the restaurant he knew exactly where the place is.

We were also at the Basilica Cistern. This is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns beneath the city of Istanbul that provided water filtration system for the buildings nearby. The place is big and is illuminated with muted lights that gives it a mysterious atmosphere. Ada upturned medusa heads at the base of two columns in the cistern that konon nye to keep evil away (yeah, yeah). Saya tak lah plan nak letak gambar medusa tu kat sini kan..

 We stopped at the Hippodrome where chariot racings were held during the Byzantine Empire. Only a few fragments of the original structure still remains today.

I love this view of the Hippodrome in the evening as we walked back to the apartment. It was raining and cold and we were very tired after our walk to the Grand Bazaar.

Dan Topkapi Palace is another tempat yang mesti dilawati. It is one of the palaces of the Ottoman Sultans now turned into a museum. We were most intrigue with some significant relics of the Muslim world, including pedang Nabi Muhammad saw dan 4 khalifah.

 The place is huge. The gardens were beautiful with a view of the Golden Horn.

It rained so we had coffee at the teahouse that faces the most amazing view of the Golden Horn. I wish it was sunny then the view would be much, much better. Actually hujan batu sebenarnye. And our walk home was windy and wet and super cold.

It is spring time therefore flowers are aplenty. Istanbul has a tulip international festival although it wasn't until we left that the festival starts. Unfortunately. Btw, did you know that tulips originate in Turkey and then were taken to Holland?

 I was told that Emirgan Park is the place to view flowers in Istanbul but our stay was too short and our schedule was too packed for us to visit the park. Maybe we can visit Istanbul once more at a slower pace to catch up with everything (wink).

This post seem too long to put in everything. So I will continue next time.



~ xoxo