Lovely Turkey

Horrayyy! Dreams come true.. Walau telat 3 tahun, tapi kita senang bisa honeymoon di Anniversary ketiga ini. Then biarpun negara idaman gue Greece, tapi  Turkey kan tetangganya Greece juga, so consider terkabulkan doa gue..

Here’s the itinerary of our journey.

We joined konsorsium Indonesia Tour for 10 days Lovely Turkey from 9-18 Nov 2012.

Our flight is by Turkish Airlines TK 67 depart on 08.35 PM and transit 1 hour at SG. We reached Ataturk Aiport Istanbul at 06.15 AM. Travelling time is around 12 hours from SG and Turkey’s time is 5 hours behind Indonesia. Weather was great with minimum turbulence, but we still can’t really enjoy our sleep at flight. Flight attendant’s service was fine. Dinner and Breakfast were served on board.

At airport, the tour leader help us to apply Visa on Arrival at USD 25 per person. Then we changed currency at PTT Money Changer (in the corner before exit the airport, and it’s near to Starbuck). This money changer has higger rate and only 2% commision. Rate is est. 1 USD = 1.74 Lira = +/- Rp. 5700.

Turkey’s area is seperated 3% to Europe (Istanbul area – old town and new town) and 97% is considered as Asia.

So our 2nd day started at Istanbul old town. From airport we were fetched by our local guide called Nejat and driver Bilo who bring us directly to Hippodrome Square where Byzantian Caesar use it for gladiator fighting. Here we can see Egyptian Column, Serpentane Coloum and Ibrahim Pasa Palace. Then we continue to Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) and Hagia Sophia (previously is Church, then changed to Mosque, and presently used as Museum). It’s just a walking distance within 5-10 minutes walk. From there, we had lunch at local restaurant with set lunch of tomato soup and salad, pizza, beef kebab and rice.

Left to Right: Egyptian Column, Hippodrome Square, (top) Serpentane Column, (middle) Blue Mosque, (bottom) Hagia Sophia

Afternoon time we visited spice market who sells turkish traditional delight, spices, handicraft, etc. Weather is around 13 degree, it is windy and on off drizzling for whole afternoon. Then for the last tourism place of the day, we visited Topkapi Palace who also act as Museum for Sultan Treasury of 16th century, include his 86 carat of diamond, 15-29.5 gram of emerald, pearl, etc. There is also a room to display the religious things such as Musa’s beard, Musa’s Stick, etc but photography is prohibited inside the Museum. There is a balcony outside the museum where we can view the Phosporus strait. Finally we ended the tough day at 5PM, had early dinner Chicken Kebab, Meatball and rice, and check in at Zurich Hotel.

Since November is near to winter, therefore sunset is around 4.45 PM and sunrise is about 6.45 AM.

The next day our Morning call is at 6 AM, have breakfast at 7 AM and we depart at 8 AM. 3rd day was a sunny day with 18 degree celcius. We travelled from Europe contigent towards the Eastern part of Asia contigent, cross the Dardanelles strait by Car Ferry to reach our destination Canakkale City. Our lunch is at Troia Agora Restaurant with set lunch of soup, fish and rice. After lunch, we visited City centre and the Ancient Site of Troy. Then we ended today’s schedule and check in at Iris Otel 4*, had a buffet dinner at hotel.

(top) at The Dardanelles Strait
(bottom) at Canakkale city center and Ancient Troy

For the 4th day, we depart early at 7.30 AM because we need to drive about 4 hours to reach Izmir. Izmir (previously known as Simirna) is the 3rd largest city in Turkey with 2.5 million population, a harbour city and lots of leather factories. At Izmir city, we can view Mount Pagus and Ottoman Clock Tower. This city is also recorded in bible new testament about letter to Christian community in Simirna. From Izmir we had lunch at Selcuk City, near to our next destination Ephesus Ancient City where we can see Celcius Library, Artemis and Medusa temple, etc. Last, we visited tourism shop that sells olive oil, turkish delight, various tea flavor, etc.

Mount Pagus & Ephesus Ancient City

On the 5th day, we go to bulbul mountain where house of virgin Mary located. Mary stayed here till her death. There is also a spring holy water that we can bring back and the wall for hanging our prayers. May our wishes come true. Next place is the leather factory that produced jacket and bag from 4 months old’s lamb leather, it’s top quality.. After that we had early lunch at Le Wagon Restaurant (previously was train station) then, we continued drive for 3 hours to Pamukkale area. We visited Cotton Castle, that naturally made from Sulphur and Natrium Carbonat to form Calcium. This complex also has Hierapolis ruins. After sunset we went back to 5* Richmond Thermal Hotel.

House of Virgin Mary & Cotton Castle

(top) at Le Wagon Restaurant
(bottom) at Hierapolis

The 6th day was the most tiring day because we need to travel 700 KM from Pamukkale to Cappadocia through Konya. It took almost 10 hours with stop every two hour. We visited Mevlana Museum where people respect the famous Moslem leader Sufi Jalaluddin Rumi, and they built this museum to showcase his graveyard, his teaching of Sufi Philsophy, his writing, and they created a dancing of Mawlawi Dervishes. We also visited Sultanhani Caravanserai. Then we back to 5* Dedeman Hotel.

Here are some Words of wisdom from Mevlana (Mawlana):

“He (God) is the merciful and bountiful Lord; both existence and non-existence are in love with Him”

“The married pair must match one another: look at a pair of shoes or boots.”

“Patience gains a crown from faith: where one hath no patience, he hath no faith”

Then the next morning, for people who want to join optional tour for Hot Air Ballon, we need to wake up at 4 AM. Poor thing is weather was foggy for the whole morning. Balloon trip was rescheduled. We continue our city tour to Kaymakli Underground City where Christian people hide from Roman soldier. They lived 29 meter underground, they built church, rooms, kitchen and food storage. It was really amazing. From there we visited carpet factory, Uchisar Castle and had special beef kebab lunch at cave restaurant. Then weather gets better and it’s a good news for 16 ballooners. Finally we can join the 1.5 hours’ ballon tour. It’s once in a lifetime experience and we can see the beautiful landscape of Cappadocia City. After landing, we also had a champagne party and rewarded with a certificate. Perfect! It’s the most recommended activity in what to do list if you visit Cappadocia. Never miss it!

Kaymakli Underground City

Hot Air Balloon at Cappadocia

Next place of visit is Goreme Open Air Museum. It has 10 churches inside (but it is prohibited to take photo) and you can see Valley of Birds as well.

Goreme Open Air Museum

We also had a Couple shoot in Turkish Costume for our 3rd anniversary. Here we present Sultan Bambang & Sultana Yena. Haha.. 😀

Actually we still have optional tour for belly dance and Turkish bath that night, but we skip these activities due to enjoy our own timing at Hotel. 😀

The 8th day morning we visited the Turquoise Shop. I got my anniversary present, a pair of pure young Turquoise earings, my favorite blue color. Then we visited Seramic Factory, had photo shoot at Mushroom rock and Camel Rock. Then on the way to Ankara, we visited Salt Lake. We reached Ankara around 4 pm and directly go to Ataturk Mausoleum till sunset. After that we continue our driving and stayed at Bolu.

Blue Turquoise Earings. Turquoise stone is a very personal and meaningful stone to one who wears it.

It’s the 9th day, which is our last day. We drove back to Istanbul and visited Camlica Hill, the highest hill where we can view the Bosphorus Strait. Then we had optional tour by Cruise along the Bosphorus so we can see the Europe and Asia side of Turkey and also the Golden Horn.

@ Camlica Hill & Bosphorus Strait

We had lunch at ChangCheng, the Chinese Restaurant and walked within 10 minutes to reach Grand Bazaar shopping area. We stayed there for 2.5 hours and had own dinner at Galleria mall before we were brought to Airport. It’s the end of our journey! Happy and Satisfied!

There is no a never ending Journey. It is always a time to say goodbye, Adios amigos, see you next time. What we bring back is a good memory.

With People we met at our journey. Good Bye all, See you…

It’s a great honeymoon and 3rd anniversary celebration. Dreams come true. Thank you God.

Cheers

Blue Yena