Turkiye

We came back from Turkiye last week. We went to Sapporo, Japan last January and I did not even write anything about it. 1 reel on instagram and that was it. Went to Jakarta in February. No reel at all. No blog post. I am doing my best.

I am not planning to write about Turkiye but I think it is important for me to note it somewhere that this trip happens. I may forget. I want to preserve the feelings not really the trip itself. After awhile, all these foreign soil we are visiting, they look nice simply because they are new and far away from our homeland. What is more important to me is that realising, after each trip that Malaysia is still the place you choose to call home and it is the best country in the world for you.

This time, we utilize Nuh Travel as our tour operator. We arrived in Istanbul on 28 May and head straight to Ankara. We stayed in a nice hotel with nice dinner and breakfast. The hotel reminded me of the Royal Belum resort because it is located in an area surrounded by forest and very close to Abant Lake. We also visited the Salt Lake before making our way to Cappadocia. 

In Cappadocia, we stayed at a cave hotel. It was an interesting experience, one that I may not want to repeat. The cave room made all of our clothes damp. It was dimly lit. Rather romantic but we were too tired to do any other things than sleep. We went to see the hot air balloon. Standing in the cold just to watch hot air balloon is something I will not repeat again. Don't get me wrong, it was such a beautiful sight but there has to be a much enjoyable way to watch the hot air balloon.

We also went on a sunset ATV ride and visited the famous fairy chimneys sites. The weather in Cappadocia was cool so it was such a pleasant walk around. I love looking at all the wild flowers. I am so used to winter sights. Being able to experience spring and summer in this gorgeous country is such a blessing.

After spending 2 short nights in Cappadocia, we made our way to Izmir to visit the ancient city of Ephesus. We spent some time exploring the ruin under the hot sun and then we went to Pumakkale.

It was quite a journey. The thermal pool was beautiful. The tour guide made the best decision to visit the site at sunset. We stayed in a Thermal Pool hotel. Too bad we did not have time to enjoy the thermal pool facility they have onsite.

The next day, we went to Bursa. It was another long journey. Made a few uneventful stops for lunch and prayers. We also went on a quick sightseeing at Tophane Clocktower. That is where the tomb of Osman Ghazi, the founder of Ottoman empire is located.

We reached our hotel in the evening and decided to walk to a nearby mall. We had a quick look around, bought some coffee and snacks from the grocer and then call it a night.

After spending 1 night in Bursa, we head to Istanbul which is our final base for this trip. We stayed at G Hotel Istanbul and the aircond in our room was not functional. We had to opened the windows to cool down the room a little. The weather in Istanbul was rather harsh. Seems like it was hotter and more humid than Malaysia. We did a a lot of walking to visit the famous sites like the 2 main mosque, Hagia Sophea and the Blue Mosque. We also walked to the Grand Bazaar. It was to hot and we were not in the mood to do any shopping. So we just walk around savouring the vibes.

We went on the famous Bosphorus Cruise and afterwards went to a local restaurant to have fish for dinner. This is where we celebrated Eddy's birthday.

Before we depart to the airport, we went to visit Fatih Mosque and the tomb of Muhammad al-Fatih. It is a beautiful mosque. We arrived at the airport quite early so we went to browsing and bought a few last minutes souvenier.

Even though the itinerary was rather rushed, I think it was a good thing because we managed to see a lot of places in a short period of time. All the hotels that we stayed at were satisfactory. The cave hotel was very unique. The rest of the participants are all very friendly and punctual. It made the whole experience very pleasant for me.

The best activity that I did in Istanbul was to say hello to all the local cats. They are soooooooo..... cute! I will repeat Istanbul again just for the cats.