My turkey trip was great. Lovely weather, beautiful sights, flowers blooming everywhere, warm hospitality from locals, yummy yummy food and great company... Though I broke my camera on Day 4 and got quite seasick during the end-up-going-nowhere boat cruise (kenah "cheated"), everything else went quite well...
I did a part free-and-easy, part local tour agency kinda itinerary. Istanbul was pretty tourist friendly-- the Sultanahmet area with all the major attractions was quite walkable; it was also easy to get around with an efficient and affordable public transport network (actually taxi fares were reasonable too, though we only found out on the 2nd last day!) Other "must-visit" Turkish destinations were somewhat more spread out btwn the western coast and central parts of Turkey, so we relied on the local tour agency for those bits. That allowed us to meet quite a few visitors from different countries; to our surprise we found out that quite a few ppl take like 1 month or more off work...!! Such decadence... Making my (seemingly long) 2-week getaway seem trivial in comparision hehe. Well, you make the best of what you can squeeze out; and it was definitely long enough for a decent recharge :)
Turkey's a place with a long and rich history; though it was cool to learn more I'm not a traveller terribly into history... the things that left me with the most vivid memories were the people, insights into the Turkish lifestyle, sampling different kinds of local cuisine... And well, they prob charge the most exorbitant rates for using public loos -- expect to pay btwn 0.5 to 1 turkish lira (Sing dollar/ Turkish lira exchange rate's about 1:1) each time...
I also like the Turkish ppl we met... They seem generally good-humored, warm and friendly. Though it doesn't seem like they get too many Singaporean tourists, with the Turkish frequently greeting us with "Konnichiwa" (or the Korean equivalent) at the touristy places... And when told that we're from Singapore, they articulate the three-syllables Sing-a-pour melodiously and knowingly... hehe, though i suspect half of them prob haven't heard of us before. I also gathered that fair-skinned Asians like us must be a pretty rare breed in town, especially when you get locals wanting to take pictures of you (which was odd), or with you, more than once.
Hee, ok, now for the pictures...
Tulips tulips everywhere in Istanbul!Below: Tulips in front of the iconic Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
Above: Lovely arches at this courtyard at the Blue Mosque.Below: Need I say more?? :P
Had lunch at this cute cafe in Selcuk, Turkey.
Olives, olives and more olives! I tried to give them a second chance here, but well, I still dun quite fancy them...
We also visited Sirince, this village near Selcuk with greek houses. Quite a quaint little place, but sadly it's pretty ravaged by tourists today. Many turkish women just sat at their stalls weaving flower wreaths from fresh wildflowers... I got myself one for just 1 lira... :)
Above: Awesome views of the mountainscape during a long bus-ride...Below: Blending into the fairy-chimney landscape at Cappadocia
Hee, I found "myself" at the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul, of course must take picture right? :P
A refreshing breakfast at the hotel roof terrace in Selcuk. Quite a few hotels use their roof terraces as their "selling point" on their websites... Then you go there and discover that everyone has got a roof terrace :P Oh well, not too surprising, given that it's really very pleasant to dine under the warm sunlight in spring.
And of course, who can leave Turkey without tasting some Turkish tea (or Çay, pronounced "chai") served about everywhere in cute curvy glasses?