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Sunday, December 03, 2006

Turkiye!! Günaydın!

just came back from Turkey this morning(oh it should be Turkiye, not turkey which foreigners always call) felt hmm HOT! ah not used to the singapore weather already, kinda miss the cold, i-can-see-smoke-coming-out-of-my-mouth-when-i-talk type of weather heh this was my 1st overseas trip following tour, so felt everything was quite rush and had to wake up early haha but its good for lazy ppl who dun want to plan for trips. anyway heres some highlights of the trip.

Day 1/2: Istanbul
touched down Ataturk Airport, istanbul, saw our tour guide which i though he resembled Jack from lost. straightaway we went off for the tour.

Our tour guide Leo

Visited the Hippodrome Square, which was the former center of sportive and political activities of Constantinople. only the Egyptian Obelisk, Constantine & Serpentine Columns.

DAY 3: BOLU – ANKARA - CAPPADOCIA
Took a coach to Ankara, the capital of Turkey(yes istanbul is not the capital). 1^st stop in ankara was the Ataturk Mausolem. A monument built in memory of the founder of turkey.

Ataturk Mausolem

Next, we went on to the Anatolian Civilization Museum. There, we saw collections of primitive art and items used by the ppl thousands of years ago.After lunch, we headed for the magnificent region of Cappadocia, which is supposed to be the highlight of any tour to Turkey. Indeed it was excellent. The tv programmes were great... only 2 english channels but! There IS porn in turkey hehe

DAY 4: CAPPADOCIA
515am, we woke up to for the hotair balloon flight! Yes! A first for me. It was a breathtaking view of Cappadocia few thousand metres above ground. The pilot took us all the way up as well as down into the valleys and towns. After the flight, we had some snacks and champagne for celebration. We were given a certificate too! Heh

After breakfast, we went straight for the underground city of Kaymakli where early Christian dwellings extended downwards into the earth for at least 8 floors in a maze of tunnels and rooms. The tunnels were pretty narrow and short, had to duckwalk in certain areas heh.

Next is Goreme Valley where we explored the rock-carved churches, some with paintings of Jesus and virgin Mary on the walls. However due to the Islamic rules where faces were not allowed, faces of the paintings were erased. Along the way, we took pictures at the Uchisar “castle” village, Goreme and Pigeon Valleys. In the valley, there are little hills where ppl acturally live inside of it.

Group photo at Goreme

Uchisar “castle” village

Pigeon Valleys

We also visited a hand made carpet factory, where we were introduced to the different kind of carpets. The cheapest goes for USD300 while the highest end carpets could cost as much as USD 20000. We also visited the pottery factory. Same thing, we were introduced to the art of pottery in Turkey. After dinner, we were treated to a delightful show featuring Belly and folklore dance. There, we had free flow of drinks as well as spectacular performances, especially the Turkish babe doing the belly dancing hee got pulled up by her to perform as well! Made a fool of myself heh

turkish babe

DAY 5: CAPPADOCIA – KONYA – PAMUKKALE
A long day awaited us today as we had to travel 700km by coach via Konya to Pamukkale. It took roughly 10hours. We traveled along the original silk road towards Konya, the famous old capital city of the Seljuk Turks in the 12th and 13th centuries. Here, we visited the blue-green domed Mevlana Museum, which used to be the cloister for Mevlevi Dervishes, the old Turkish order of whirling dervishes. They were sects who twirl round and round for 30 mins to an hour as some form of ritual.

Mevlevi Dervishes

Mevlana Museum

After that, we continued along the old Silk Road from Konya, stopping at Horozluhan, one of the best-preserved caravanserais (inns) in Anatolia for lunch. The bus journey continued on till we reached Pamukkale where we checked in to our hotel Hieropolis. Had a nice dip in the thermal pool after dinner. Water in the thermal pool came from a hot spring yeah so it was heavenly. Tried the Jacuzzi and sauna too. Pity the pools close at 10.

DAY 6: PAMUKKALE – KUSADASI
After breakfast, we went to the unique Cotton Castle, beautiful white cliffs formed by limestone-laden thermal springs. Interesting part of this place is that certain pools are warm-hot water at about 33degrees while others are freezing cold. Almost got frostbite on my toes! It is really an awesome sight.

Next, visited the House of the Virgin Mary where she is believed to have spent her last years. She lived in a small humble house and there were people praying inside too. Apparently christians from all over the world visit this place.

The house virgin Mary stayed after leaving Jerusalem

Ephesus was next and apart from troy, I was looking forward to this place. There are so many fascinating stories and legends about this area, apparently the amazon women eg. Xena warrior princess was linked to this place as mentioned by the tour guide. We saw the Grand Theater which could seat about 25000 people and surprisingly concerts are still held there. There was also the Library of Celsius, Marble Street, public toilets used by the romans at that time etc. It was really a damn good experience to be there seeing all the ancient roman ruins and statues of the greek gods in person.

The original nike, an angel or something which the logo of the sports brand was inspired from

Last place to go was this leather shop where the made a private fashion show for us and also introduced the different types of leather. The jackets were nice but quite expensive, at least 400usd.

DAY 7: KUSADASI – PERGAMON – CANAKKALE
Today, we went to the ancient city of Pergamon to see the The Acropolis, an ancient roman city built on top of a hill. Some of the sites there include Altar of Zeus, Temple of Athena, the library, theater and arsenals.

After that, headed to The Asclepion, one of the oldest hospitals around which treated both mental and physically ill ppl. This was where the serpent found in all medical logos originated from.

After lunch, proceeded to a turquoise shop which became the fastest place we visited coz nobody was interested hah everyone left quickly to avoid the sales ppl. Headed to a beach resort iris hotel for rest. Wanted to try the Turkish bath but it is done by a guy and the hotel didn’t have any male masseuse tonight so well no lost heh.

DAY 8: CANAKKALE – ISTANBUL

Took a walk at the beach today, nice clear water. Headed for Troy today, not too bad, about 1/10 the size of Ephesus. Same stuff, ancient ruins. Pity the Trojan horse was under construction but heard theres another wooden horse in town, it was the one used in the movie troy, apparently the producers of the show donated that to the locals.

Took a 4 hour bus ride back to Istanbul. Had to travel by ferry across the straits to get from asia to Europe side of Istanbul.

upon getting onto europe, the tour guide brought us to the grand bazaar where theres this huge place for shopping.

The grand Bazaar

Checked into our hotel and after dinner headed for taksim square, a “orchard road” of Istanbul where young ppl hangout. Took a taxi there and boy was the taxi driver aggressive, no blindspots checked, just changed lanes at high speed. Went into a pub where we had some drinks and tried shisha for the first time heh.

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