Previous Day (Disembarkation & Transfer to Istanbul)
Destination: Greece & Turkey
Duration: 18 Days 17 Nights (Aug 06~Aug 23, 2012)
Day 16: Istanbul
Our day started with breakfast at Daphne Hotel before
being picked up by SHE tour for Tour 1 & Tour 3. As in our 1st
day in Istanbul with SHE (link), we were picked up and being consolidated at
their tour center. We were told that our morning tour was basically a WALKING
tour! What?!
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| Breakfast @Daphne Hotel |
Our 1st destination of the day was Hippodrome
Square which funnily enough was like 5 minutes walk away from our hotel. We
actually walked pass this square many times on our 1st day and also
yesterday. Our tour guide started to explain the historical fact of this place.
Basically there were three major ancient structures still standing today:
1) Walled Obelisk – built in 10th
century and originally covered with gilded bronze plaques but the plaques were
stolen which left only the stone core
2) Serpent Column – built to celebrate Greeks ‘
victory over Persian, there was supposed to be a gold bowl on top of the 3
serpent heads but it was again destroyed or stolen
3) Obelisk of Thutmose III – Brought from Egypt where
the obelisk was cut into 3 pieces but only the top section arrived. That was
why it was placed on a marble pedestal to look higher.
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| Walled Obelisk |
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| Serpent Column |
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| Obelisk of Thutmose III |
After the Square, we walked to the Blue Mosque which was
basically beside the square. There were lots of tourists today and we had to
queue to get into the praying area. Our tour guide mentioned the most
frequently asked question about blue mosque was: Why is it called Blue Mosque?
It doesn’t look Blue at all! Well, the name basically came from the beautiful blue
tiles adorning the walls of its interior.
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| Blue Mosque Entrance in Daylight |
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| Blue Mosque in Daylight |
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| Queuing Up |
In order to get inside, no shorts or any sexy outfit were
allowed – you had to cover yourself up with scarf or towel and you had to wear
a shoe cover too. The mosque was built from 1609 to 1616 and the most
interesting fact about this mosque was it had six minarets – rather than the
common four minarets. The tour guide mentioned this was actually a misunderstanding
between the builder and the emperor on this. But being a clever builder, he
simply told the emperor that it was intentional to show the status of the
emperor. Hahha.. smart huh?
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| The Interior |
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| Praying Area |
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| Dome |
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| Can you see the Blue Tiles? |
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| So many People!!! |
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| Miniature again... |
We continued our walking tour to Hagia Sophia which was
also near the Square. There was a long queue for tickets but thankfully our
tour guide already bought the tickets earlier. The most fascinating aspect of
Hagia Sophia was that it was once a church from 360 until 1453 before being
converted into a mosque under Ottoman rules from 1453 until 1931. It was now a
museum with Islamic calligraphy and angels together under the same roof. They
did cover up the Christian mosaics and painting when it was a mosque but now
everything was being uncovered so basically you could see two different
religions in the same room side by side.
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| A Structure before reaching Hagia Sophia |
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| Hagia Sophia? Look like a Church? |
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| An Cathedral? |
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| Christianity |
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| Islamic Dome and Angels together |
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| Angel in Close Up |
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| Magnificent? |
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| This will bring you luck if you twist your finger 360 degree in it. |
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| Walking up to 2nd Floor |
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| View from 2nd Floor |
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| Sammy was there! |
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| Stone Columns |
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| See the Islamic Calligraphy in a Christian looking interior? |
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| Mosaic on the Wall |
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| More Christian Mosaic on the Wall |
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| Walking down |
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| Goodbye Hagia Sophia |
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| The Exterior |
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| The Queue is still Long! |
After Hagia Sophia, we took a slightly longer walk to get
to Grand Bazaar which was closed today due to public holiday (Hari Raya!). Some
of the team members followed the guide to carpet shop but we still roamed
around the area as some shops were opened.
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| Random Mosque near Grand Bazaar |
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| Grand Bazaaar is closed! |
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| All the Shops are closed! |
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| Walking on an Empty Street |
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| Another Entrance of Grand Bazaar |
Lunch was at Masal Restaurant in the area which served
typical Turkish food. The chicken kebab tasted okay but there was a strange
taste on the lamb kebab. I must say Amebros café was so much better but since
this was a group lunch so we couldn’t expect much.
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| Appetizer |
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| Turkish Bread |
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| Lamb Kebab |
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| Chicken Kebab |
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| Masal Restaurant Exterior |
After lunch, we were ushered to watch another ‘fashion
show’ to avoid the traffic jam – or that was what the tour guide said. Well, I preferred
the show at Kusadasi (link) though since the male model there was more
handsome. Hehhee…. Anyway the cheapest leather jacket would cost you EUR250
which was like RM1K! No thanks!
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| Leather! |
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| Fashion Show!! |
We continued our journey on bus to drive through the
bridge that connected Europe and Asia to visit Beylerbeyi Palace – a summer
palace for holiday and to entertain visiting heads of state. Unfortunately photos
were not allowed inside the palace though. Let’s just say this place was extravaganza-ly
luxurious! The whole place was full of crystal chandeliers and also a pool and
fountain at a reception area.
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| View from the Bus |
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| Another View from the Bus |
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| Going to Beylerbeyi Palace |
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| A long Corridor before reaching the Courtyard |
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| The Main Building Entrance |
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| A Chandelier in the room near the Entrance |
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| Another Angle of Beylerbeyi Palace |
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| A Doorway to the Sea |
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| A building near the Exit |
Our bus then took us to Camlica Hill for panoramic views
over the city from both Asia and Europe together with the bridge. The view was
just normal – definitely not the best view in our little escapade. This ended
our last day tour for our entire trip.
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| Picture from Bus |
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| Panoramic View from Camlica Hill |
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| A View from the Top |
We decided to walk to Hippodrome Square again for some
street food and managed to buy a lamb kebab sandwich and some toasted pepperoni
and cheese sandwich. The lamb kebab sandwich was quite dry but the toasted
sandwich tasted nice. It was bought from a roadside stall which had long queue
during our day 1 here. In fact, a lot of their choices were sold out today as
well. Our night ended with a roasted corn – but I would say Malaysian typical
corn from Indian stall was much nicer. This was also our last night of our trip
before flying back to Malaysia tomorrow. *cry*
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| Hello Dooggie! |
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| Watermelon Stalls are everywhere! |
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| Our Dinner! |
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| Cat on top a Lion!!! |
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| Caterpillar taxi? |
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| Roasted Corn |
Next Day (Grand Bazaar & Back to Reality)
Masterpost (Click this to get to day by day link)
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