I have always wanted to visit Turkey.
Years ago... my bestie visited Turkey and told me Istanbul is a beautiful place. Then, one day, while I was watching tv, there was a show that talked about how beautiful the Blue Mosque is and I so wanted to be there! Since then, Turkey has been one of the countries I want to visit before I die...
Fast forward some 20+ years later, I found myself living some 3-4 hours away from Turkey but still havent visited the place.
Max knows it is a place I want to visit and he always tries to fulfill my dreams.. and so, this term break, since he is able to get leave and Ace doesnt need to go to school, we intend to go for a short break to Istanbul :)
As we booked our trip quite late, we din manage to buy EK tickets and took Gulf Air, transitting in Bahrain instead... Saw this along the DFS in Bahrain.. so cute right. Since like this region all used to be some sort of fishing village in the past.. Who would have thought that all these desert filled places that are so darn warm used to be fishing villages?!
The flight there was not too exciting lah. The inflight entertainment was sort of sad. But I did manage to watch The Life Of Walter Mitty and Saving Mr Banks (missed the first half cos I fell asleep).
It was a rather ill prepared trip actually as I was busy and did not have any time at all to read up about turkey. I know NOTHING about this place or its people.. only that I had to see the beautiful Blue Mosque..
When we arrived, we were thinking where to get a taxi.. we went to a limo counter to ask them and they said they provided taxi.. Max gave them our hotel address and asked how much it will cost and they said 90 Lira.. (double of what Max checked) and before Max could answer, he just abrubtly brushed us off with a "Thank you, good bye."
So my impression of Turkish people took to a bad start...
Then we hopped on to a taxi.. and wow.. the view took my breath away!
Like Dubai, the roads of Turkey has lots of roundabouts as well...
What is most amazing is that there were tulips EVERYWHERE!!!! So pretty! And the weather was also cool and chilly! The way I liked it!
Anyway, our taxi driver who did not really know how to speak english was super friendly. He shared his name and taught us how to say Tulip in Turkish (They are called Lale) and how to name the different colours as well.
We drove past the sea and he told us that the sea is called Maramara...
As it was Sunday, we saw so many people by the seaside the the smell of BBQ was in the air lor:)
So happy to catch sight of these pink sweeties!
Saw something that looked like a fort.. there are many ruins along the way and I think this could be part of the old city wall or something they had.
Apparently, (I read up later), Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey but it is the largest city within Turkey. This area is one of the earliest settlements where there are traces of civilization!
Our driver did not really know where our hotel is as he says Ottoman is a very common hotel name. True enough, along the way, I saw Ottoman this, Ottoman that... I did not really realize its significance till much later, did I find out that the rulers before Turkey had their own democratic government are called the Ottomans. They are good at war and were once, one of the largest empires in the world. And they are the ones who are known to be fierce Turks... and that they are the ones who brought Islam into Turkey.
Eventually after asking around, our taxi driver found directions to our hotel.. but he did not know how to get to the main road and so he let us alight somewhere else and asked us to walk ourselves... and so we did.. we asked this shopkeeper where our hotel is and he said, "Oh, very near! Just oppossite! Later, when you put down your lugguage and still remember, do come visit me at my shop!"
And that is when I started to think that the Turkish people are a) very friendly and b) very good and doing business!
Finally arrived at our hotel.. the Ottoman Imperial Hotel. We were given a quaint little room and before we were taken to our room, the PR exec even sat down with us and gave us a short intro to istanbul and what we can do here...
We got a room that is right next to the restaurant.. hahaha :) so have to remember to keep the blinds drawn:)
Ace checking out the room...
The toilet...
Right outside our room.. sweet right? And the lights are sensor lights and so they only light up when we step outside..
We were given some Welcome Turkish delights. They are really tasty.. not like the ones I had eaten before... so it made me decide to buy some of these yummilicious things home:)
Ace is very happy with our room:)}
The restaurant outside our room...
We walked out of our hotel and realized that we are really living very very close to many places of interest.. right oppossite the hotel entrance is the Haggia Sofia..
Ace asked if we could get one of these to bring home as souvenirs..
The little slope next to our hotel.
Went to the "parade square" and saw people selling chestnuts.. Noticed that the chestnuts here are shelled halfway one.. so good.. and also, they use a scale to weigh the chestnuts.. so that you do not complain there is too little or wat.. they use those blancing scales with weights to determine if you get your money's worth of chestnuts...
Check out their public phone booth:)
Another thing alot of people were selling is this chain of flowers for you to put in your hair.. I din buy any so din take photos.. but it looks something like this..
There were tulips everywhere..
Ace complained he was hungry and we decided to buy this thing to try.. it is a hard bread cut into two and they have plain and nutella flavour!:)
Mr Hungry had a bite first... "Wah..很好吃leh.." Ace kept repeating..
Then Max's turn to eat (and feed me) while Ace took photos:) haha
Took this because I found this really interesting.. there is this large dog and this really small dog.. dunno how they started barking at each other like want to fight like that lah...
If I pull back my camera lens, you can see that the big dog is restrained by the owner... the small dog is actually attached also to a leash and it is held by the lady in white jacket. Despite her dog barking loudly, she just boh chap and continue to take photos while holding on to her leash! wahahahah
I think Turkish people love dogs.. see alot of people have dogs.. and hor, the dogs all dam hoh miah one.. everywhere we go, we see dogs SLEEPING ON THE GRASS.. dam shiok! I told Max.. if we ever have to come back as a dog, must make sure we are dog in Istanbul.. so good life!:) wahahaha
Max says his favourite are the white tulips.
The blue mosque!
And opposite is the Haggia Sofia Museum...
This photo was taken by Ace. Swee boh?:P
Tulips of all colours!
万白之中一点红... haha:)
The skies were down cast, so cannot see blue mosque true colour.. which is actually more of like this..
After that, we decided we will walk around little bit to get to know the old town better. Realized that they have "economic rice" chap cai peng as well! Just that theirs is turkish dishes.. which I find quite similar to the arabic dishes we can find in Dubai...
And there were so many dessert shops! I wanted to try the dessert but so afraid it is too sweet for my liking because those in Dubai are often to sweet..
Saw someone selling kebab.. I think my only regret is I did not get to try the kebab in Istanbul as I was mostly eating vegeterian with my family. Wonder if it will taste better than the ones I tried in Dubai.
Turkish sweets are called Turkish Delights. This particular one that I like is called Lokum :) SO many flavours! After we returned home, I look at our dwindling supplies and wonder if it is possible for me to make my own.. and i actually found recipes for it.. and it doesnt seem too difficult to make too.. But well, if I had to make something... probably I prefer to make something Singaporean...
Walked past a turkish bath.. me and Max still not comfy with strangers scrubbing us up and down.. so... decided to give it a miss..
The round things are actually magnetic soap boxes.. so cute right?:P
From top.. Dancing Dervish (that is the type of dance the twirl round and round non stop here), the Hand of Fatimah, Tulips, Turkish constumes and twin cats. I think cats are special animals here in Turkey..
This is actually a fruit juice presser for oranges.. prior to coming to the middle east, I have never seen anything like this before... I am surprised they are also commonly found here in Turkey..
Saw these little tiny chairs and tables at a restaurant. The shop owner was so kind.. he said to feel free to take photos and when I remember him again, please come back to visit again.. wahahaha :) MOst of them are like tat one.. friendly and business oriented!
Did your saliva come out already?
Max was so happy to see this because he wants to come back later to watch his liverpool match..
I find this sign so cute:)
Ace took a picture of the electric tram service that runs around the whole city...
While walking on the streets, I noticed that alot of people smoke while walking. I wonder if it is because it is cold or what..
This is a typical tram station. I am wondering if Turkish people are known to be very honest. YOu see, you pay for a ticket to go inside the "station". BUT hor, you can walk in from the roads as well and dun pay too... so if no policeman there, does it mean they assume people will just pay? I know if this were to be implemented in china in this way, they can forget about having people pay:) wahahaha
Also, look at the sign in the background. One thing about travelling to turkey is that even though the people here speak english mostly... (since this is tourist zone), but the language is like totally foreign to me. I cannot try to make out any part of it.. even though I can speak and write like 4 languages and have simple understanding of another 3 languages...
THis quaint little house reminds me of europe... Istanbul itself is divided into ASIA and EUROPE section. Anyway, we sort of got lost...
Max was holding on to the map and then we tried to ask for directions and the first person gave us a wrong point of reference and we just got more and more lost.. the most worrying thing is that Istanbul old town is like on a hill.. so lots of roads go up and down and we have been going downslope all the while.. we predict the way home will be TOUGH:) wahahaha
Was a little intrigued that the shop's door is so small and so much of it is hidden underground... I later found out that this is common in the building design because the houses are built on slopes... so many many houses have basements with partial doors showing and partial doors hidden...
THe good thing about getting lost is that we saw sights we wouldnt have seen. I din know they also got pasar malam leh.. sell things on the floor type..
It is interesting how the old and new combine together here...
I have always thought of Turkish women as being very passionate and that they dress very fashionable even though it is a muslim country. But these coats seem to be rather dated in design... makes me wonder... if my perception is true..
Right beside the fully covered long trench coats, you find another shop selling slinky night gowns! wahahaha..
Market Place in Istanbul old town... see the banner on top? Everywhere we go, we will see banners of some politician... I wonder if it is because their election is coming soon or what..
Women selling curtains...
Wow.. they sell pretty nice gowns too:)
Check out the traditional turkish costumes.. reminds me of the wicked queen in snow white:)
Again side by side they sell the bao mi mi type and the show off everything type of swimming costume:) wahaha
We finally got our bearings when we ended up in the spice market!
This lovely perfume seller.. even though we din want to buy anything from him.. just helped us out and told us where we are and pointed which direction to go back to our hotel..
The old one trying to get his bearings.. the young one is...
DANCING ON THE STREETS....
Win already lor:) wahahaha
On our way back walked past a few museums.. realize we really living around alot of museums.. I found out later it is because many of the important buildings were clustered together and they were converted to museums later..
So tickled that there is a cafe selling turkish ice cream and bread stuff called LOTI!:) wahahaha
We were beginning to get hungry and so we tried to find a place to have dinner...
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