Welcome to the second half of TLBT! My next destination is Turkey, which is similar to Egypt in terms of its Islamic culture. Compared to Egypt, where everyone knows about its famous pyramids and mummies, it seems like few people know what's there to see in Turkey. At least for Asians, Turkey is a pretty underrated tourist destination. "If I can afford to travel that far, why not visit Europe instead?" most Singaporeans would probably think.
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| The view changed as we exited Egypt into Turkey. No more yellowish sandy deserts. Greenery came into sight, and somehow my mood became more cheerful. |
Just in case if you don't know, Constantinople is the old name of Istanbul, when it was still under the Roman empire with Christian influence. Its modern name Istanbul usually refers to the Muslim period since it fell under Ottoman Empire.
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| Turkey lies at the boundary of Europe and Asia. Hence it can be quite difficult to classify Turkey into either Europe and Asia. Turkey has a pretty rectangular geography, with its capital at the upper left corner. The western half of Turkey is generally more popular with tourists. |
Below is a map of the Istanbul. It's divided into the European side and the Asian side, by the Bosphorus River which cuts through the capital. You can cross to the other side only by bridges (only three) or ferries. For such a busy city, the crossing can create quite a bottleneck.
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| Most of the cultural attractions are located at the European side, hence there is not much reason to venture over to the Asian side. At the European side, places of interest are congregated at the southern tip near the Bosphorus River. The area is known as Sultanahmet. |
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| The beautiful Blue Mosque, with the fountain as its 'frontdrop'. |
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| Streets of Sultanahmet - This road is shared by both cars and trams...but I don't see any space for cars to move through if there are trams coming in both directions. |
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| Somehow it feels strange to adopt the gantry system for trams. The platform has to be enclosed within an already-narrow street, thus creating a bottleneck for passing pedestrians. Secondly, anyone could just enter from the road onto the platform without going through the gantry (and hence ride for free??). |
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| The novelty sweets and confectionery of Turkey, known as Turkish Delights. They are really delicious, especially the pistachio pastry (that high stack of logs). A must-buy souvenir from Turkey. Of course these do not come cheap. Fortunately I could get a generous portion of sample to taste hehe. |
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| Bread stall at the streetside! These look pretty yummy and filling! |
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| The weather is pretty hot during summer. Fruit juice is a good way to cool oneself down. |
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| Another famous food from Turkey - Kebab! It was still early in the morning so the kebab was not fully cooked yet. |
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| The Column of Constantine. There used to be a statue on the top but it fell off due to strong wind haha. |
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| The Hippodrome. Nothing to do with hippopotamus haha. It used to be the sporting centre of Istanbul. |
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| The Obelisk of Theodosius. It was brought from Karnak Temple in Luxor (remember that place?). |
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| I've seen more authentic obelisks in Egypt already but I'm still amazed by such monuments. |
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| The Walled Obelisk and the Serpent Column. You can wiki the history behind these monuments by searching 'Hippodrome of Constantinople'. |
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| The sturdy-looking Neo-Byzantine German fountain. The ceiling is lined with golden mosaic. |
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| The Aqueducts of Valens. It served to provide water supply to the city during the Roman period. |
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| Water flows down the hill through this aqueduct. Today, it's probably just a drainage for rainwater haha. |
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| Took a rest at this streetside kebab stall and bought a loooooong kebab! |
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| Was curious about this stew they were cooking, and went to try it. It's not the type of meat I expect...tasted like some intestine...pig liver? |
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| So cute! This kitten wanted to have a bite of my kebab as well. We ended up playing with it haha... |
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| Turkish version of 菜饭 haha. (The rice is replaced by a separately served bread) The portion is quite generous but it's expensive also. The dishes were yummy by the way. =) |
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| The popular chain confectionery in Turkey - Koska. You can shop for all your Turkish Delights here. The good ones are those sold by weight at the counter. You pay for the quality, the cheaper ones taste so-so only. Anyway thanks to the shopkeeper for posing in this photo haha. |
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| Dinner by the Blue Mosque! |
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| This is the staple food in Turkish cuisines. Doesn't this look like an inflated pillow? Lol. |
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| Here comes the main dishes! The reddish-looking meat on the left was really nice! Can't remember what meat was that lol. |
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| The obelisk at night. It looks more sacred this way haha. |
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| Was lucky to come across a performance outside Blue Mosque. The music and dance, coupled with the stage lighting and effects, was pretty amazing! |
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| Blue Mosque at night. Even at night there are so many birds flying about the minarets. |
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| This is not the Blue Mosque haha. In fact this is not a mosque, though it really looks like one. This is Hagia Sophia (or Aya Sofya) a cathedral which is now a museum. It stands opposite of Blue Mosque. |
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| Love the dim lighting of Hagia Sophia at night. Will cover this church in my next entry. |
It was much much easier to tour around Turkey than Egypt. People are friendlier and less money-minded. Streets are cleaner and the infrastructure is more organised. And the fact that price tags are shown in shops made me scream in joy lol.
