Istanbul Trip 2014

Namaste. Last year (2014), I visited Istanbul, Turkey for only 4 days 3 nights (19/9/2014-22/9/2014).  This was my first time travelling with friends, and I felt like an adult. Kehkeh. Or maybe I am an adult. Okay whatever. So I planned with Nad, Anusha and Sha (they are from Jeddah) and after we confirmed our destination, I booked my flight from Turkish Airlines for SAR 2700 and I only packed few clothes as this is only a short trip. 

So my flight departed at 0100 hours and it took about 4 hours to reach Istanbul Ataturk Airport. My flight landed at about 0500 hours and my friends were already waiting for me there. I changed my money in the airport (idiot), but luckily it was only SAR 500 (about TL 390). My first impression of Istanbul was W-O-W. Almost everyone is good looking, stylish and very well-mannered. We took a tram from the airport to Taksim area. What I can say is the public transportation in Istanbul is super efficient and Malaysia really need to improve its train services, provided the passengers in Malaysia  improve their attitude as well. So we reached the place early in the morning and had our breakfast at the small coffee shop. Owh style gila orang Turkey minum kopi! 

Play tourist :)

Breakfast dia memang sedaplah.

After had our breakfast, we walked to our hotel, Galata Life Istanbul which ermm.. you have to climb the steep road to get to the building. It was so steep that we need to stop many times sebab peluh dah mencirih-cirih. The view was nice tho, because the building were full of graffiti. 

It feels ermm Ghetto?

This road is just so lively

The view from the counter of the hotel

Dining hall/bar. The hotel rooms are at the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor.

Our breakfast in hotel cafe

We put our luggage in the hotel/hostel office, refresh ourself and headed to Sultanahmet by tram. Most of Turkey's historical attractions are located in this area. So our first destination was the famous Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia used to be the biggest church in Istanbul and it was build by the East Roman Empire. It was turned into a masjid/mosque in 1453 when Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered Istanbul. However, Mustafa Kamal Ataturk converted it into museum in 1935.

There are traces of both Islam and Christianity in the whole building. Amazing :)

This is a 'chandelier', but it uses candles.

Coco and anusha

Brunch in front of Hagia Sophia. Agak taak masuk akal sangat harga dia.

Next, we went to Topkapi which is located few steps away from Hagia Sophia. The entrance fee is TL 30 per person. Topkapi is a palace for over 400 years before it was transformed to a museum in 1924. Tempat dia sangat cantik.

In front of the main entrance

In love with this palace

Lost

I could sit here all day long :)

And just few metres from here is the Sultanahmet Mosque or known as the Blue Mosque. When we arrived, the Asr prayer just finished. There were many tourists and also beggars from Syria inside the mosque. 

Wuu..speechless woo

Before we leave Sultanahmet, we went to Basilica Cistern. This is an underground cistern which can hold up to 80000 cubic metre of water. This place is kinda creepy as it is dark and wet, but this is one of the most amazing things I've seen in Istanbul.

Ghostly, beautiful and just so amazing.

Medusa head, upside down.

Our kinda dinner hehe

My dinner for tonight.

The next day, we went to the Grand Bazaar which is one of the largest market in the world and it is really huge that we lost Nad here. Cis. So basically there are thousand of shops inside this bazaar, they have almost everything; from souvenirs, to tshirts, leather jackets, shoes etc. My tip of the day: do not shop at the front shops, you may get lower prices inside. The shopkeepers are very friendly, helpful and even flirtatious, seriously. Some might think it is sexual harassment haha. Anyway you can tell them off nicely if you feel uncomfortable. Anyway, I can say that their hospitality is one of the best, they even serve you Turkish tea in the shop. So yeah, I bought quite a lot of things (sob sob, seriously I shouldn't do this); leather jacket, long coat, boots, souvenirs etc. Okaylah ,malas nak kira kerugian kat sini. Wuuu.. In the evening, we went to Fatih area, which is not far from our hotel.

The best street food ever, it's grilled fish and breads. I swear I will try to buy this if I will come to Istanbul again.

Today, we planned to go to the Galata Tower, but then a guy approached us and ask if we wanna go for a cruise in Bosphorus. Haha. Lebur plan nak pergi Galata. So we bought a ticket (TL 25 per person) and we managed to see the Asia part of Turkey (we were in the european side).

 Fefeeling Bollywood

Lepas habis cruise ni (seriously I was so sleepy and can't wait to finish the cruise), we went to Bhosphorus Bridge to have our dinner. Dari jauh, the bridge looks like other bridges and I expected the restaurants under the bridge will be like the one yang cikai-cikai. But I was wrong, the restaurants banyak yang macam untuk candle light dinner, they are quite fancy actually. Haha. Se we had a seafood platter (you really have to share this, sedap sangat-sangat and big protion). But seriously, the food taste sooo good. Later at night, we took a stroll along Istiklal street. This road/place is so crowded with shops, restaurants, boutiques and night clubs along this road. We went to Hard Rock Cafe to but so stuff then had our dinner in a restaurant nearby. The place was so lively with loud musics and people were dancing on the road as the clubs were so over packed. We quickly finished our meal and went to a nearby club which was not so crowded. What's special about the club is that they play Arabic/Turkish songs beside English songs. And soon after, we realised that it was a gay club. Kihkih.

Next day, we went to Balat, a jewish quarter here. I was so jakun as I think that was my first time seeing Jewish people. Haha. I really love this place because it's like an old village where everything seems traditional and peaceful. We didn't see any other tourist here, maybe because this pace is not so famous. But I really think this place is worth going.

In front of a house in Balat. Still can't figure out the meaning of that.

The colourful buildings/houses.

This place is so cool :)

With one of the people in Balat, dayyum they got swag :)

These old people of Balat are so cool and friendly

In front of a pastry shop

We had a very emotional conversation in a pastry shop in Balat because there's quiet there, with no internet access and not many people, so yeah, we got connected to each other today. Owh how I miss to have that kinda conversation :) Oh yeah, please wear decently here because you know, these people here cover themselves and they wear decently as well.

Galata Tower

We had coffee, shisha and street music here, at the roadside

This is how we spend our last night here. Style gila tempat ni.

Cheers to our first trip together :)

So on our last day in Istanbul, we stroll Istiklal street again towards Taqsim square. Well, I can say that Turkish guys are so good looking, they are like models walking down the street. All of them! Haha. Hensem gila lagi lazat sekali pemandangan itu. So we had burger king (even the cashier looks so damn fine) and lepak at the square.

Taqsim square

The church in Istiklal. Salib tu nampak sangat berseni okay

Right in front of Galata.

Later, we went back to hotel, packed our stuff and checked out. We bid farewell to our hotel keeper who is a sweet, middle aged lady (she made us breakfast every morning and smiles all the time). We took a taxi to the airport and my flight departed back to Riyadh at 2040 hours. Overall, Istanbul is one of a must-go-place. The place itself is very beautiful and romantic, the Turkish people are so lovely, friendly, helpful and good-looking, the public transportation is very efficient and the food is eatable, and most of them taste good. Total lost is about SAR 8000, but you can definitely cut the cost even more if you don't spend it on shopping (I still regret this.Wuuu). Insya Allah I will visit Istanbul again, and maybe I will cover other places such as Cappadocia, Pamukkale etc. Till then, thank you :)