Trip to Turkey- Istanbul

From Bolu we went to Istanbul. We stop at the leather factory. We were anticipating handbags but what was presented to us was leather jackets in a form of fashion show. Very nice, fashionable soft leather jackets but price was in USD and it was damn expensive. Unless you are going to wear it on a regular basis, no point buying here. You can get a similar ones (maybe not as fashionable) at a much lower price in retail stores.

 The Blue Mosque. Our guide took us here during Friday's prayers. Apakah??? there were so many people around, there were barely any space for us to squeeze inside the mosque, let alone to pray. Dah lah salah masuk - guard suruh naik spiral staircase entah ke mana, nak amik wuduk about 500m away...last2 alhamdulillah dapat solat luar masjid. There were many in our group that can't even got a place to solat and had to wait. Since we finished earlier we ask our tour guides to go first to the next itinerary so that we can spent more time there. In Turkey, generally the ablution area will be quite far from solat place. It's also a good idea to wear a thick sport socks and treat it like wearing a khuf throughout your stay here. Otherwise you might have to raise your feet and wash it in a sink like I did in Mevlana.

Off we go to Topkapi Palace- it rained heavily when we were  here. the rest of the group were still stranded at the Blue Mosque during the heavy rain.

 Again many people and it will take you some time to enter the museum- there many museum here, the ones I found most interesting would be the ones on Islamic civilization, from the Prophet's personal stuff to the Kaabah's keys during the Ottomans time to the swords of the four khalifahs. No  photos allowed and people were queuing to see the exhibits. A must visit if you are in Istanbul.

 Next would be Ayasofya / St Sophia/ Hagia Sophia

while waiting for the rest

 Inside Ayasofya, if you observe carefully you can see the remnants of the church before it was turned into  a mosque and finally to a museum. In fact, without the huge Allah and Muhammad signs on the pillar my first impression would be a church.

 we went up, no stairs, look at the floor- it was really like the movies.

the view from upstairs

this part is very old-you can't take photos with flash here. If I'm not mistaken the photo depicts Jesus and Maryam.

Going down- also no stairs, but look at the floor, it's different from going up, I guess this is how they differentiate going up and down.

all the museurms that we went - if you want to go on your own the all the entrance tickets will cost you TL110.

to go to our next stop we walk along many exciting small shops...too bad our guide warn us not to stop at any shops here, otherwise we wont have enough time in Grand Bazaar.

Next stop,

Grand Bazaar- This place is huge, remember which entrance you went in. We went in to buy some t-shirts and some window shopping. once everything look like same same stuff, we went out and buy some souvenirs along the outside perimeter of the grand bazaar- it's cheaper here.

We walk outside of Grand Bazaar to buy baklava along the streets.

The baklavas on sale

Since I like baklava I'm gonna show you another photo of baklava.

and another

and another.

 the baklava that we bought - should have bought more of these instead of the Turkish delight. After Grand Bazaar we ate dinner at an Indian restaurant- very nice, we finally got some heat and spice in our food.

this pretty lady is making something like roti canai with filling, I've forgotten what's it called. 

The next day we went to Eyup Sultan mosque. Irfan macam biasa bila nampak kucing terus pegang.

one of the entrance

Another entrance

 

kalau tak silap bahagian luar ialah kawasan perkuburan

Just look at the tiles

inside the mosque

Outside the mosque.  There is a row of shophouses across the street that sells cheap shawls, sejadah, jubah etc here.

this was not one of the itinerary but our guide was kind enough to accommodate us. We took a cable car up the hill (can't remember how many lira) 

where you see a breathtaking view of Istanbul

there is a cafe here and lotsa people having their tea facing the sea view

Put a coin to use the binoculars

you can see this view

This area was actually Eyup cemetery,all along the cable car ride, even behind the cafe it's a cemetery. This is what some of their cemetery look like. This place is where our Malaysian student, Ahmad Ammar was buried.

went we went down to our bus, we saw cheery trees, too bad ceri tak masak lagi.

Next stop, Bosphorus cruise. Our group had a ferry on our own.

It's very windy

View was awesome

windy but sunny

many cruises along the sea

the European side of Istanbul

After the cruise we walk to the place where the bus is suppose to pick us up. Along the way we saw this Balik Ekmek--something that i wanted to try

grilled fish sandwish -grilled fish, cucumber, salad with bread-- no sauce. we only ordered one but only managed to finish the fish. 

At the Suleymani mosque ( if i'm not mistaken). 

Kucing kat sini memang tak takut orang. We also went to spice bazaar but did not take any photos there.This is the place to go if you want to buy Turkish delight, nuts, figs, dates etcs Just remember to buy it at the stalls/shops outside the bazaar, it;s always cheaper outside. Outside is also a place where locals buy their cheeses, coffees etc

After prayer we went to the back of the mosque, they have a nice look out point here

This is what you will see

 Next stop- Thaksim Square - not in itinerary, this one cost extra.

 Kumpir- this is also one of the food that i wanted to try. It's basically huge baked potato, they mashed it while leaving it in its skin, mix it together with butter( the huge yellow stuff on the left) and cheese.

 Then you choose your toppings- whatever you like

 This is ours for 12 TL- quite filling , I'm sure i cant finish it if I'm having it on my own. 4 orang share just nice.

 While walking along the street, I stop dead on my track when I saw this - just look at those baklavas! if you look closely, you can see honey dripping at the bottom part.

 But I guess I'm not the only ones, this old man was admiring the baklava too. While waiting for DH to buy his shirt in nearby shop, I also saw many tourists who would just stop talking and slow down or even stop when they saw the display. I was laughing at their reaction till I remember I had the the same reaction too...haha

 There were so many people along the street... nampak kepala je. After Thaksim, we said goodbye to Istanbul and went back to our hotel - Goldenway hotel - near the airport.

Next morning, at the hotel, while waiting for our bus to airport.

The staff pun nak join skali. Overall it was an exciting holidays, and there were many places to visit in Turkey,, even in Istanbul there are places that we did not get to visit.