Istanbul

Place : Istanbul and Cappadocia (Turkey)

By : Nor Amalina Muhayudin

Q1: Do you like your vacation there?

Alhamdulillah, couldn’t be better. If anything that I would regret is not reading the history of Othmaniyyah and Turkey more deeply.
Q2: Do you recommend other people to visit there in future?

Certainly recommended.

Q3: How long was your trip?

I lost count on my days when I was there in fact I almost cancelled my trip to Cappadocia just because I’m fascinated by Istanbul. Fortunately, I went to Cappadocia because is a place that you don’t want to miss. I went to turkey on 7^th April and came back on 14^th April so that make it 7 days, I guess!

Q4: Which flight did you used?

I used ryan air to stansted and from stansted I took Turkish airlines. I didn’t go straight from Dublin because I met my friends in London. But you could go there by Turkish airlines directly from Dublin. Do I need to state the price??

Q5: When did you go there? What would you recommend the perfect time to visit?

Answer in Q3. The perfect time to visit will be anytime of the year kut? I went there during spring and sue went there during Christmas but we both having a good time while we were there so I guess no matter what seasons it was you will have a great time. I bet you just need a right jacket and which seasons you prefer to do an exercise because it will be a lot of walking there!

Q6: Where did you stay there? Are you recommending others to stay there as well? How much is the cost to stay there

I stayed at Rose Hotel in sultanahmet. 5 mins walking to Blue mosque and I personally think the nearest hotel and quite cheap (mungkin) you could get. I took a twin room for a price of 40 euro per night (en suite). However, *nie yg x best nk citer nie* the first night was a miserable to us because we checked in quite late at around 9 or 10 pm, couldn’t remember, and they had to give us a room without a heater. We were shivering all night. The next morning, I was quite angry and upset but luckily they gave us a new room and even better room with the same price!! Nasseeebb..kalo x pakcik tu mmg cr psl.

Since we took 2 days tour to Cappadocia from Istanbul. The accom were provided by them, it was a cave room with 3 beds and ensuite. It was a good hotel, Hemi’s Crave ker aper namernyer, couldn’t be bothered..sorry! But the hotel wasn’t in Goreme, it was in Uzturp, if you took a night bus from Istanbul it will be the last stop.

Q7: Any halal restaurant/groceries nearby?

Everything in Turkey is HALAL except for the wine and alcohol drinks and I don’t know the status of Shisha. But the rest, insyaAllah.

Q8: Interesting places you visited there? You can also state other places that you admire but you dont have enough time to go there. You can also state the chronology of you trip.

All the places I visited were interesting and fascinated me.

The place I had visited:

Istanbul

- Blue mosque. Notes: Don’t forget to pray when you were in there!! Amek berkat.. sedikit info about blue mosque. It was built by sultan Ahmet to show to the Christian that Muslim could build a building even greater than Ayasofya. During those times Ayasofya was a church thus, Ahmet built up a mosque to beat Ayasofya. It was situated in front of ayasofya and ironically it was built a little bit higher (cam small hills) than Ayasofya .

- Haghia Sophea (Ayasofea) museum. Notes: the admission fee is 20 Lira. Ayasofea was a combination of church and Mosque. Read more history behind it!!

- Tapkopi Palace. The biggest Muslim museum in the world. Notes: admission fee, 20 Lira and I rent an audio guide as well (10 Lira), to visit Harem (inside Tapkopi) another 20 Lira ker 10 Lira x ingt sbb x msk, and to rent audio guide for Harem another 10 Lira.

- Grand Bazaar. Notes: Be a good buyer and bargainers (is this even a word)!

- Spice bazaar

- New mosque

- Dolmahbace palace and mosque. Notes: another 20 Lira to enter the palace.

- Galata tower and bridge. Notes: 10 Lira for the tower

- Taksim square.

- We spent most of our time in the shops bargaining!

Cappadocia (Kapadokya)

-Pigeon valley

-Underground city

-Open air museum

-Ceramics and poultry factory

-Onyx factory

-A lot more places but I can’t recall the name as I took a city tour

Q9: Any advice on the transportation there? Rambler ticket etc.

Free transportation as your leg is free kan? Other option will be tram and the price will be 1.50 lira/token. For instance if you want to get a return ticket you need to buy two tokens!

Q10: Any other recommendation/ issue to share?

Sue, anything else you want to share?? I think I covered all. But , if you have time you could visit all the mosque in Istanbul, it will be 25 mosques(camii) all together and might be more! But the most fascinated time adalah pada waktu sembahyang, to hear azan calling one another was an experienced that you don’t want to miss. SubhanAllah. A lot of story I could write but I guess you would only appreciate that when you experienced it yourself. Dont forget to put Istanbul in your next holiday list!!