August 20, 2011

Turkish Delight

Istanbul has been called the city where the two continents meet. How is that possible? Divided by the Bosphorus, the city resides on two continents of the world, Europe and Asia. Cool eh?
 
My next-door neighbour went on a trip to Istanbul last Ramadhan and when she came to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri at my house, she recounted her experience, telling how beautiful the city was. I was sold, immediately listing Istanbul in my places to go list. 

Then, before Hari Raya Aidiladha, my eldest sister, who is now posted in Turkmenistan asked me to visit her at her new place. Being good little sister that I am, once again I obliged. Well, I wouldn’t say no to visiting new places :D 

But Turkmenistan is almost like Russia, the procedure to getting their visa is quite tedious. Since we didn’t have much time left before the trip, we diverted to plan B. We went to Turkey instead. 

Whenever I travel, it’s usually a DIY trip. Some people find it easy to just follow a tour package because everything is already taken care of. But for me, I don’t mind doing the research and the hassle of booking everything by myself. I decide what I wanna do and where I wanna go, and have my own sweet time exploring the place! 

But for this trip, for the first time ever, my sister and I followed a tour package. Well.. not the whole trip. Just part of it. We covered Istanbul on our own. The rest of Turkey, we left it to our travel agent. Heh… We went to Turkey during Qurban Bayrami (that’s Hari Raya AidilAdha) week so it was super peak season. What’s more, it was kinda a last minute trip so we reckoned it would be hard to book the transportation, hotels etc.

We found a very reasonable package by Turista Travel, which brought us to cover almost half of this beautiful country. 

Enjoy these photos…. 

Bosphorus Bridge - connecting Europe and Asia

Hot air balloon in Cappadocia

Fairy chimneys in Cappadocia North

Soganli Valley in Cappadocia South

The ancient classical city of Ephesus

Pools of Pamukkale

Wait while mama writes the story… 

2 comments:

Lady of Leisure said...

tq for sharing dear, kalau ada peluang i always love visiting natural site like pamukkale, cantik!

rara said...

yup.. pamukkale is sooo cantik! tak puas! i wish i can go there again..