Turkey is indeed a beautiful place. Surprisingly, not much complains about the trip, despite hearing bad reviews about the FOOD especially and even bad experience with Chan Brothers to Turkey.
It was my first Europe cum Asia trip, with a flight time of near to 12 hours. We took Turkish Airlines even thou we could have opt for SQ because of the better return flight timing. Well, no complains about the inflight entertainment, leg space etc. Food wasnt fantastic nor bad, but could be better. Haha. Oh, but the air stewardess is very fierce de leh. Pretty but fierce. Fiercest stewardess we have ever seen!!!
Sishi came to see us off. Had tea at the airport before we left. Apple.. Notice the winnie-the-pooh pillow. X'mas present from you couple of years ago. My first time using it. But sadly, there's a hole. It gets smaller during my sleep and eventually becomes flat. My entertainment during the flight. Keep having to blow it back into shape. Hahaha.
Well, felt like a pig for this trip. We had a very full dinner. On board the plane, we were given Hazelnut snack. After awhile they serve us rice. And then few hours before landing, its breakfast.
There are only 10 person in our tour group. Its kinda weird because when we booked, ours is a confirmed tour, so not sure why in the end, there is only 10 of us. Thought it's going to be like 5 couples? But we are so wrong. It is us, plus a family of 4 (parents & 2 kids), and another 4 which we known as yi jia si kou. Couple plus mother-in-law & sister.
Turkey is 6 hours behind SG time. We arrived in Istanbul at around 5am Turkey time. We were greeted by our handsome tour guide, Tamer. Were given some time to change money. By the way, the rates at the airport is much much better than Singapore. Never listen to the tour agent and change at Mustafa. Luckily we did some calculation and realise the rate difference and never change at Mustafa. Otherwise, can always withdraw directly from the ATM machine at the airport. Heard that rates are good too!
Our first destination. Breakfast at a hotel nearby the airport. Nothing fantastic. Hard-boiled eggs, sausages, cereals, cheese, salad etc. Food was kinda cold!~~~~~~~ not nice! anyway, we are v full. so it's ok.
Then we set off for a few hours bus-ride to Canakkale. Turkey is big place. We have to travel for 2-3 hours each day to reach our destination. Along the way, there is always toilet breaks. Also, apple tea time.
We reached this pier place where we had some time for photo-taking, followed by lunch. Our first proper meal. There is bread and soup, salad and we had fish with rice. Quite tasty. =) Forgot to mention, it is cold~~~~~ properly below 10 degrees.
After lunch, we took this ferry. I duno what you call that, but our bus can also drive into the ferry and when it is nearing our destination, we will all board our bus and the bus will then drive out of the ferry and continue our journey on the land. We are going to visit the legendary Troy for our first day in Turkey.
Unlike Singapore with limited space, Turkey is really big. Along the journey, you will see huge pieces of land, plantations, animals etc. Isnt it wonderful if we can grow whatever we like to eat, have a few animals in our backyard. Finally, arrived at our hotel. Iris Otel. Well, it is a 4-star hotel. And this is the worst one out of the 6 which we stayed. We read reviews online, the entire list of hotels which we are going to stay are like quite bad, so we did not set high expectations.
Was told that we can see beautiful sunset behind the hotel. Sunset is at around 4.45pm there. Indeed beautiful!
The bad point about following a tour. The wake-up call is at 6am. Luggage to be ready by 6.30am. Breakfast, and then setting off at 7.30am. Our dinner & breakfast is always settled at the hotel. For Iris Otel, the food is quite pathetic and limited. It is buffet-style. And thou terrible, there is always like still ok-can-eat rice/ chicken/ fish that will not make you starve. For breakfast, there is always cereals so i am okay! And turkish like hard-boiled eggs. And not forgetting bread. It is present in every single meal. There is alot of cold dishes/ appetitisers, which we always skip la. And the desserts too. Sweet and not nice de. I rather eat fruits.
Our first destination of Day 3 - Acropolis archaeological site. We had to take a cable car to reach the place. That is our tour guide.
After the visit, it's lunch time. Buffet-style. In this meal, the nicest and most popular dish is this chinese-style chicken potato soup.
Ah tick says i am on drugs. Whenever i board the bus, i will automatically dozed off and sleep throughout the journey. Haha.
A few hours later, we reached Virgin Mary's cottage. This is the birthplace of Virgin Mary, and she spent her entire life staying here. No photos allowed in the cottage. A place with high security.
Realised most of the photos you only see ah tick? that's bcos mine are mostly in his camera and i have yet to get the photos from him yet. hee.
The day ended early. Around 5pm. Checked in to Hotel Tatlises. Nice hotel with wifi in the room. Wonder why is the review so bad.
Good morning. It is day 4 of our trip. The view from our room.
In the morning, we visited another ancient site. Ephesus - the ancient Greek city. This is one of the most magnificent architecture built by the Romans during the Bronze age. The amazing timeline of the city dated back to 550 B.C.
Beautiful, isnt it. Spectacular! It is interesting how the Romans can build all these. There are many cats in this Epheses site. So cold there, it explains why they are so fury and fat.
We had an early lunch. Arrived at 11am or so. The food was not even ready. We started off with tomato soup with bread. As the fish were not ready, they had no choice but to ask if we want a second serving of the soup. Haha. The rice came next. And finally the grilled fish and the popiah thingy with cheese-fillings.
Next destination: Pamukkale. Meaning "Cotton Castle" in Turkish. It is a natural site in Denizli Province. The city contains hot springs and travertines which was made up of limestone formations. Love this place the most for my entire trip. We get to take off our shoes and "feel" the limestones and hot spring water. On top of the beautiful cotton castle, there is also the beautiful sunset.
We reached the hotel early today too. Around 5-ish. Lycus River Otel. A hotel with thermal pool, jacuzzi, turkish bath and sauna. Dinner only starts at 6.30pm, so we have time to change into our swimwear and head to the thermal pool before dinner. Thermal pool feels like hot spring which I have tried in Korea. Indoor and outdoor. The outdoor one is shiok as the cold air mixed with the hot thermal water = heaven!!!
To be continued.......
