White Blanket of Istanbul
1:29 AM
Here comes the day I've been wondering since my arrival! YUP! There is no winter without snow and here I gladly could touch my first snow in Istanbul.
Those pictures above were taken in the İstiklal Avenue. The most popular area for sightseeing, strolling or even go shopping in Istanbul. This avenue was once believed as the 'Paris of the East'. It's a really grande rue with lots of shopping centre with the mixture of Eastern and Western atmosphere. Well... I couldn't agree more! You could find loads of boutiques, cafes, consulates, restaurants, galleries, cinemas and banks along the street. And ooh, don't forget to hop onto the Taksim, or that red tramway car in the photo that would take you cross the long Istiklal Avenue (in case you got tired haha)!
When I went out from the hotel, there wasn't still any snow falling so my friends and I keep continuing to go exploring the city. We went to the Istiklal by metro or trams. As usual, we need to buy 'jeton' or token so we could get into the metro station and ride the trams!
The route that we took was from Sultanahmet station, then next stop is in Gülhane station, Sirkeci station, Eminönü station, then cross the Golden Horn to Karaköy station (when you crosses the bridge, trust me all you want to do was taking pictures to capture the moment because Istanbul is SHOOOOO BEAUTIFUL!)... And actually there were still lots of stops, but just follow the blue line until the very last stop in Kabatas station. And then get out, follow the crowd to get on to another metro line that will take you to Taksim Centre and there you go... Istiklal Caddesi! Pretty simple, ay?
When my friends and I arrived in Istiklal Caddesi, the snow started to fall. But to be honest, that wasn't that kind of soft snow that we used to think about. It was more like rain, heavy snow rain. None of us were prepared to bring an umbrella like most of people did, so my hair even got wet and tangled all over.
Long story short, after we got "lost" in Istiklal Avenue (which was actually stupid, considering we only need to get back from where we started), we finally made it back to Sultanahmed, and ready to go back to where we stay and find warmth!!!
But then the snow went viral and the temperature suddenly dropped up to -10 degree Celsius! I stopped by in front of the Blue Mosque and found that the snow has covered it as you can see it vaguely in the background of my photo below.
The locals were so nice, some of them let us go inside the restaurant to find warmth and since we smell the savoury smell of Turkish Kebab we ordered some. Compared to the 'Kebab Turki' that we often find in Indonesia, this one is completely different! No tomato sauce, no excessive mayonnaise, different aroma and well, I can't choose which one tastes better since I like them both! LOL
Ah yeah, the locals told us that this snow is the first snow in Istanbul after it never snowed in the last consecutive years. I should've been so grateful to witness the snow in Istanbul this year! They also told us that actually in the past, Istanbul was never meant to have snowfalls, but the climate change and the global warming make it sometimes snowing in Istanbul. Sometimes it went blizzard, like this one as an example.
After finishing our Kebab, we went outside (again) and strolled down the Gülhane Parkı. If you google that, you'll find pictures of the park with blossom colourful flowers and green grass, but this one is totally different. The garden was completely white! And even my shoes and coat were white, they were covered by the snow! Ahaha
The next morning I woke up and watched the news on TV, the snow was getting thick and there were blizzards in some area. There were lots of vehicles got derailed, some flights got canceled and..... My trip to Cappadocia got canceled as well!!!!! (╯︵╰,) What a disappointment, ay? Going to Turkey but never gets to see Cappadocia is like, a vain, mate. But alright, just take the bright side, going on a road trip to Cappadocia in the middle of blizzard sounds like a bad idea, anyway.
C'est tout and see you on the next post, which would be the last Istanbul blog post!
xoxo,
Kiara
0 commentaires