Je suis alle a l'Europe: First destination, TURKEY

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Yes, excited! My heart pounded as we leaving bandara Soekarno Hatta for the unforgettable trip, Europe !

First disaster was during baggage check in, where I overloaded my baggage. It suppose to be 20 kg, mine was 24. But the worker there helped me by giving me tips to take out 2 kg from my luggage to be transfer to my backpack. So I need to carry 2 kg more in my hands. Loads up for my biceps! :D. Well here’s the tips : Make sure you know the maximum kg of your luggage, and also in some International flight, you are not allowed to bring 2 carriage to the plane. If so, make sure one of it is just a plastic bag or hand carriage.  Because usually 20 kg is the maximum luggage, *except in first class they allow you to bring 30kg, or else you will be charged around 20-30USD per kg.

Then I waved goodbye to my families and continue to the immigration part. Fortunately, today we didn’t need to fill up the immigration card. It is so much helpful, since we didn’t spent many of our times from doing it.

At the airplane, one comment for sure: I’ve got to see marathon movies! Hahhaa. Well, it killed time though, so I didn’t sleep much like I used to. :P

From Jakarta to Amsterdam via Turkish Airlines, we will stop at 3 countries; Singapore, Turkey and then Amsterdam.

Singapore! Well, I still wonder whether it was the procedure or other reasons, because we need to get out of the plane, which is the same plane we’re going to take to Turkey, and we need to bring all our carriage there. And so, another exercise for me, Prilly and gerynd.

TURKEY

Sultan Ahmet square

Turkey! Welcome Turkey.  I found it they have a cute language. Cikis was their language for exit. at least that I can remember. If you stop at Turkey, make sure you do ‘Stop over’! It is provided by the Turkish Airlines where if you stop over for more than 6hours, then you may get this trip free*no exception. All you need to do was go to the VISA desk, ask for visa on arrival and pay 25USD. Then, proceed to the passport checking, and find “CIKIS”, go to your right, find Starbucks, there you find Turkish Airlines booth to register the city tour. Well, the meal, the trip, and all that are free. They’ll hold your boarding pass, and they’ll ask you to sit at Starbucks and you just wait for your names to be called.

Turkey!!

Joining the Turkish airlines was great. It was free, and the guide was so friendly. Her name is Aisha, and the driver is Ismail. We went on an elf like car; there were 15 of us with different routes to go.  Well, we first was brought to Amara restaurant, a Turkish restaurant where the name came from a northern Turkish area legend, about this girl named Amara, who was suicide in a sea *or lake? if I’m not mistaken, then it called Amara sea. The breakfast was okay, they gave us a bread like prata bread, a chicken soup and a sweet tea.

The first stop was the Sultanahmet square. (old historical peninsula). There were 4 different statue, the first on was the hypodorm, a german gift to the sultan which was signed by the sultan itself in the top of the roof of the dome. And also it was function as a fountain, since they have few taps in the wall of it. The next statue, just about 300 meters from it, was the obelisk that was given by an Egyptian. The next statue I wasn’t really remembers the name, and the last one was also an obelisk but smaller than the Egypt one, that was built during constatine empire. 

            My favorite place was Sultan Ahmet’s mosque, named after the Sultan and was popular with the name Blue Mosque. It has 6 main entrance, A-F, and each of it, it has this teralis on the wall where it was used for tie the horses from the Turkish people hundred years ago. Only the sultan can bring horses inside the mosque. If you look closer to each entrance, it has this chain of chandler, so whenever a person, in this case the sultan, brings a horse inside, he must bent down to avoid the chains on the gate so it wouldn’t bumped him. This is said to remind us that even the sultan has to respect the Mosque and all the people that prays there. Also if you look beside the gate, there are 2 doors, called 2 spaces, where people who found stuffs inside the mosque or at the park, they will put it there in the spaces so whenever someone found their lost stuffs, they’ll find it there. The mosque itself had 6 minarets, which usually the common mosque will only have 3-4 of it. These numbers represent the powerfulness of the mosque and the area itself. This mosque was still used until now, they made of 20.000 blue tiles. At the entrance, we need to open our shoes and put them in the plastic bags, also they give us a blue cloth to cover part of body such as arm, shorts, etc. Well they didn’t give me the cloth, I am fully covered. :P And inside the building surprises me, the mosque was not that blue, but if you see the wall of the mosque, it was covered by the blue tiles. The window, was my favorite. It has colorful glasses and many chandeliers above it. Using a bit of imagination, this building will be so beautiful when the lamp was all lighten up. 

            The next one will be Hagia Sophia, where this museum was formerly a church that is turn to be a mosque. But then it was decided to make it as a museum, so everyone can see it, despite what their religion are. Paradoxically, you’ll see these huge symbols of Allah and Muhammad, and also the mimbar in the front center of the building. On the other hand, you may also see the Jesus Christ and all the Christian signs in the walls, and also the most noticeable sign was the angel in the top of the building, beside the Islamic symbols. Hagia Sophia has 2 floor, you have to see both floors, since you may see the entire building thoroughly. Sense the atmosphere on how people used to sacrifice themselves for their religion and they’re rights to have this as their place to pray. 

            The end of the trip we went to a market in the Sultan Ahmet’s square, where there was this photo booth with Turkey’s traditional clothing. It is quite expensive though, 5 euro per photo. Well, at least we have the evidence we’ve been there. :P. Next we went to Amara restaurant *again, and they served us this chicken soup, roasted chicken, prata bread, salad full of beat fruit, cauliflowers, and carrots. The drink was Airan *trust me, you don’t want to drink this. Hahhahaa. But it is worth to try. :D It said that it is served with 2 flavor, sour and salty, and what I taste is the salty one. It is yoghurt, but it salty. (Just imagine the taste). Next we went to the Topkapi palace, where all the kings and their families lived. It was was huge and they had very beautiful gardens. 

We get to see the sea and the Istanbul-Asia part from the palace. there were they’re jewelry rooms and of course, my favorite place, Turkey is never complete without they’re mosque.
Oh, and it is said that you have to try the Turkish delight , and turkish ice cream: MADO. 

            Our time was up, we said goodbye to our tour guide Aisha, and we hop on to the plane to our next destination. Holland!