Then we went to the bus and headed off for Cannakale, another town where we would spend the night. After a long bus ride, followed by a ferry ride to the Asian side of Turkey in the darkness of roughly 5pm, and another bus ride, we arrived at Iris Otel (Iris hotel), where we had a Mediterranean buffet dinner and then slept.
DAY 3 - Ancient Day. But it's Ancient Rome, anything goes. (xD)
Breakfast at the hotel, and by now I have learnt that Turkish food consisted of a lot of cheese. Yo
Not really, I kinda had enough, seriously, thanks. They had cheese that looked like butter, like tofu, and even like potato.
But the hotel had a wonderful view of the Marmaran sea (or at least that’s the sea I think it was… maybe it was the Bosphorous or Agean sea, I can’t recall).
There are seven cities built upon each other. And yes, that's a replica of the Trojan Horse. I can only say wow. Because I lack better descriptions. And a thesaurus.
Travelled to lunch at another buffet with basically the same type of food, then off to Acropolis
That's me sitting about two to three floors up in the air. Woots!
Then went to a Turkish produce shop where we bought tea and Turkish delights. And off again to our hotel for the night where we had another hotel buffet dinner.
Woke up to another cheese-filled hotel buffet breakfast. We then went off to a leather factory outlets store. It is at this point where I must warn you that there will be much expounding on clothes in the next paragraph or so.
Well there were a lot of pretty coats, and my inner EGA went totally insane. While fellow tour members were rather neutral about it, I was totally OMGOMGOMG! That coat looks so tastylicious! *kyaaaaa* Like that, yes. The leather was made of lamb skin from the black sea region, and it was so soft, like my mom kept touching it. And so, my mother bought me a jacket. Seriously. She was like: This looks good on you, let’s get this one. And before I tell you the breaking news about the jacket let me describe it. It is reversible, black leather on one side, blue suede on the other, and it is a hoodie. But why describe when I can show you a picture?
There were other colours but I picked the blue one because it kind of reminded me of
this jacket. Okay now for the OMGWTF moment: The price came up to more than 800 SGD, and my mom didn’t even bat an eyelid, I’ve never had clothes so freaking costly before and I’m still kind of O.O over it.
Okay, yes, hello to all you who have skipped over here to avoid the torrent of girlish insanity! We next visited what is believe to be Virgin Mary’s house when she was alived, unoriginally named Maryemana Evi (Mary’s House). I didn’t take pictures but my parents did.
There was also three springs of holy water, so I washed my hands in one, drank one, washed my face in another. It was a little cold, but it felt really good and there was sunlight. There’s just something about sunshine in winter, gives an almost magical feeling. In fact it got so warm later that I didn’t have to wear any jacket. We also ate some local bread that is quite delicious.
Then went to the ruins of Ephesus which was just downhill
Nike, Goddess of Victory
Ancient communal toilets.
That's an ancient library, wonderful, isn’t it? Even the brothel right across from the library (you read that right), there was also an ancient advertisement for it. (The following two picture.)
I love the anachronistic nature of this scene, having a crane at an ancient site.
And while we are here, let me show you something quite… epic:
We went for another lunch buffet, which served the same limited selection as everywhere else. Also although most Turkish public bathrooms are rather clean (Very clean as compared to some others I’ve been to in China and Vietnam and Malaysia), this one had a sight that was just quite… disturbing, I’ll just spare the guys and not talk about it.
We went off to take a look at the temple of Artemis of which only a column remains
Long trip to Pamukkale (or Cotton Castle), formed when a natural spring deposited calcium carbonate. The water was warm despite the cold afternoon air temperature, and the teen in the tour group had a sort of bonding time in the water, which had lichens growing on the side.
We got our butts wet, but it was off to the bus and hotel we went.
The food was supposed to be the best at this hotel, but it was still the same stuff that we have most (all, actually) dinners. However, there was a nice atmosphere with some old guy playing some songs on a keyboard.
Post-dinner, my family went to the thermal pool in the hotel which was wonderfully warm. Although the shower caps we had to wear were oh-so-ugly. Slept in the nice hotel after watching a little bit of MTV (German version, although the programs still had their original English audio).
DAY 5 - We're Off To See The Wizard!
Honestly, we spent most of today on the bus, travelling to Cappadocia (Kappadokya). I mean doesn’t the name just sound beautiful? I think I could just repeat it over and over again. We stopped by Pamukkale again for photos on our way out, because we couldn’t take very good shots at night, but the morning was freezing cold.
So, bus. Inland. To Oz Cappadocia. Finished reading 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson along the way, which, fittingly, is about a girl who leaves America to travel Europe based on some instructions her dead aunt had left for her.
Our bus got stopped along the way for speeding, and I must mention that Turkey’s highway traffic system is rather scary, with cars going on to the roads meant for the opposite direction just to overtake the car in front of them. The road was also rather foggy in the morning. We passed by a spot with smoke streaming into the sky sometime before lunch.
Lunch was at this old inn meant for travelers, conserved into a restaurant. Lunch was, for once, not a Mediterranean buffet, and very delicious.
Went to Mevlana museum, where we had to wear plastic bags over our feet and the women had to keep their heads covered.
Then back on to our drive towards Cappadocia, where we had buffet dinner at our hotel again, and slept because we had a long day ahead.
DAY 6 - Cappadocia!
Those who opted for it started the day really early with a balloon ride:
We went up a whole kilometer into the air, but it was bloody cold. I also learnt that balloon landings are very bumpy things that cause bruises and a slightly chipped lens in my spectacles. We all received a certificate of riding a balloon afterward and drank some champagne later.
Went back to the hotel for breakfast where there was delicious chicken soup. We took a bus ride down to a jewelry shop, which specialized in onyx and also turquoise (Turkish Quartz, see?) The harem rings were really beautiful and I liked the meaning of one with sapphire and diamond. My mom bought herself a reversible (see the theme here?) ring with turquoise and sapphire.
Proceeded to a picturesque site for… well, pictures. Apparently this was where they filmed some parts of Star Wars I
Continued on to a carpet viewing, where the nice lady let me try putting a knot in one of the carpets. =DD.
We didn’t buy any though, because none of them flew.
Off to lunch at this cave restaurant called Uranos Sarikaya which was accompanied by live music from this gu zhen-like instrument. The restaurant was literaly built into the mountain.
It was an open air museum next, where Christian monks and nuns used to stay
Then off to an underground city with extremely cramped tunnels, which people used in times of danger to hide from their attackers.
After that, while my parents went off to the optional Turkish bath, my brother and I went back to the hotel to shower before dinner. After which, we went off to this folk-dance and belly dance show. Suffice to say, the folk dancers dragged the audience out to join them in the dance and it was very fun. Also, some of the belly dancers were very yummy-scrumptious-tastylicious-looking. There was this Brazilian belly dancer with Egyptian training whose control was so awesome, and her arms were so muscular, I swear, from her profile, she looked like a long-haired guy.
The sky was really clear when we got back to the hotel, and I just looked up and spotted Orion before the cold weather forced me to make a run for the room.
DAY 7 - Long Way Home
It was a long bus ride to the capital of Turkey, Ankara, today, stopping by a valley for photographs before we headed off. It was so cold (about 3°C) there were frost over the tables and the shallow pool at the hotel had frozen over (above, taken right after breakfast), and all through that, I was only wearing two layer.
I wrote on the frost on the table.
Sunshine =D
The road was so empty in the morning
We made another pit stop at Salt Lake for photos
Pretty, no? It’s like the entire horizon had disappeared. I’ve dirtied my boots too, rather unfortunately. Stopped at a restaurant for a lunch that is NOT BUFFET, and I swear, the whole buffet thing is kind of like SpagBol now. Totally bogus. When we finally reached the city of Ankara, we first visited the mausoleum of Atatürk.
Then a museum of ancient Turkish history, tracing the human life here starting from the Paleolithic age.
And it got dark and we went back to the hotel, which was very posh-looking. My brother and I watched Doctor Who (!!!) while waiting for the luggage to be brought up to the room, which took a long time. I think I'm starting to convert him into a fan, and I think I’m going to start chasing this show called Leverage, which I find rather smart. Also I seem to be running out of good connectors, because my thoughts tend to skip and without such connectors, the whole story seems rather… disjointed. Anyway, dinner was a nicer buffet, although it was still Mediterranean SpagBol.
DAY 8 - Go West~! (Okay, I won't throw old songs at you people)
Bus ride at the crack of dawn to Istanbul. Had a Chinese lunch there, and by god was I glad to see rice and soya sauce (wait what?) We then proceeded to walk over to Aya Sofya. Let the pictures say it all:
After that, while my father went off for a ferry cruise ride…
… my brother, my mother and I went to check in to the hotel.
Was it Disneyland? Was it Movie World? Heck no! This is Cartoon Hotel! For serious. It was decorated all over with cartoon characters, and though the rooms were pretty small, the furniture and interior design was fantabulous. Their corridors, though narrow, had lights that came on only when we entered the it. Kind of like our school toilets, but more sensitive.
The hotel was also situated close to Taksim Square, where my mom and I went out to shop and use up the money we had converted to Liras. We tried their roasted chestnuts (sold on the streets) which were much bigger, but also much… blander. The streets were really crowded with people.
Went back to hotel at about 5.45 pm, and on the way back, walked past these flowers shops with bouquets of daisies, and the most varied assortment of roses. Apart from the boring pink, white and red, they had them in green, purple, dark and pale blue. Well, we gathered at the hotel to head off to this Turkish Night dinner, with (again) folk dancers and belly dancers. I must say that the male folk dancers were really good, with obvious ballet training, as one of them was dancing en pointe and doing multiple pirouettes. I kept spiking my peach juice with copious amounts of my father’s red wine. My parents were fine with it though, they are okay with a ‘little bit’ of alcohol consumption.
Then back to the hotel again, where I watched a little bit of TV (and they were showing South Park on CNBC-E. No kidding) before I slept.
DAY 9+10 - Airfaring
Woke up for breakfast at 7, and then at 9 am, off to airport for return journey home. Maybe because I was mentally ready for a ten day journey, and this one was technically only about a week, so it doesn’t feel like I’m done travelling yet – although I do miss the food and people back home. What I liked most about being in Turkey was the long bus rides and the winter sunshine. Yes, I’m strange like that.
I hope I’ll get a chance to go back there someday, see Aya Sofya with all the restoration work completed. I’d also like to visit more of Europe, possibly during all the music fest period so I can backpack tag all these events and also famous historical/artistic places.
