Obliviate.

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

Globetrotter

The Turks and Their Hospitality

9:53 PM

Globetrotter

Istanbul, Beyond Your Expectation

1:08 AM

I have committed myself to write and run a blog again. Though I’m not sure that there will be many people reading it, but well at least I have told everything I could share about. When I did not write anything for the past years, I feel like there’s something missing, there are loads of things missing. Yeah, it takes a long time for me to realise. I've always liked to share information, my experiences, my thoughts or my ideas to people, world widely. There is some kind of pleasure that I get, even though I am so self conscious about my style of writing, which isn't good at all and sometimes I am not so confident with my own writings, but the show must go on, right? Besides, the old people say "Practice makes perfect", so people, I bring you back my blog…

This post is going a bit to the past, around January 2013.

For you who recognise that aircraft logo, yes, it’s true… It's Turkish Airlines. My 2013 was warmly welcomed with Turkey. No, not that beautiful bird that you eat on thanksgiving, but the Turkey I meant is that unique country located in 2 continents, Asia and Europe. Those continents are bordered by Marmara Sea. Whoah! Have you pictured the uniqueness already?

Back then in 2013, not so many Indonesian travels to Turkey. Some of my Indonesian friends even don’t know that there is a country named Turkey (no offence to my friends, but tbh shame on your shallow general knowledge). That’s bad because Turkey is actually very beautiful and captivating. Its capital city, Ankara is located in the Asia Continent, while its famous city, Istanbul is located in the Eastern Europe. That time I only went to the European part, mostly in Istanbul and it’s been very great! Istanbul was once called ‘Constantinople’ a capital city of the Roman and Byzantine, Latin and the Ottoman Empire. It was the wealthiest European city before it slowly falls and conquered by the Ottoman Empire (taken from Wikipedia).

Back to my experience, I arrived around 5 AM in Istanbul Ataturk Airport. It was still dark and the temperature was low, like, around 5 degree Celsius. Yes, I went there in winter. And that was my first experience going abroad in winter. Ah, I almost forgot to mention, that I went there with my little group from the dance club I am joining. We went to Turkey to meet the Turkish dancing team and for cultural exchange purpose. When I arrived, the airport was still not busy and crowded. While waiting for the shuttle bus that will take us to the hostel, we spent time at the airport looking for coffee or hot chocolate at Starbucks, plus looking for the wi fi!

I took some shots of what's going outside the airport from the inside because it was a freezing cold morning and I'm still adapting to the coldness.

Istanbul honestly has exceeded my expectations. I never thought that it’d look highly similar to the Western European cities. I mean, the old town of Sultanahmet is wonderful! The old styled buildings, the pavement roads, the neighbourhood, the streets that full of fancy restaurants (There are some really fancy restaurants, but the rest is so-so, not like the one you’ll see in Paris, but it is enough for my expectation). Also, I didn’t find any difficulties regarding foods here. As an additional info, Turkey’s population is made up of 90% Muslims, so it made me easier to find halal foods.

That was me in the night when I strolled down the Sultanahmet streets to the Blue Mosque (also known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque). It is a grand mosque located near the Four Season Hotel and was constructed in the Ottoman era (not sure when, though, but it was around 1600-ish). I went inside, but we’ll need to pay first. Remember, woman needs to cover their heads and man can not wear shorts. (Anyway I am sorry that I couldn’t get you detail about prices, or exact distance because this trip was 2 years ago and I wasn’t taking any notes for this blogging purpose. Promise I’ll do better on the upcoming travel stories). Alright, the unique thing from this mosque is it’s located really close to Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia was an orthodox church that was converted into a mosque by Sultan Mehmet II in 1400-ish and now it’s become a museum. Hagia Sophia is very unique because you can feel both church and mosque atmosphere here.

Besides Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, I found these beautiful buildings and cafes around Sultanahmet Area.

And also the trains! Really help me to travel a lot here, since I don't use any travel service. The train is quite punctual with clear schedule and directions, it's really clean and comfortable as well (compared to Jakarta's commuter line that day). This Turkey trip is my first backpacking trip so I was soooo excited! Since this post is going really long, perhaps I'll share more of my Istanbul journey on another post.

xoxo,

Kiara