Turkey Through The Ages : Day 2, a place called Narnia.

Assalamualaikum

Alhamdulillah, we made to 2nd day!. Ring ding dong! Wake up day 2!

Wake up, meeting with Him, and we looked through the window. Okay, that tiny white little pieces thing. They fall, fall and fall. Guess what? Istanbul was snowing!!

 

I feel like laughing to myself. I once said to myself, “Holiday, do come faster. I wangg to escape from this super-cold-ness!” and here I am now, in Istanbul, and it’s snowing. Where do you want to run Nawal?? And when we start the journey that day, I was shivering whole day! (escaping plan EPIC failed). 

“Man proposes, Allah disposes”

Kita hanya mampu merancang, tapi harus diingat, sebaik-baik perancang adalah Dia  *insaf* *sobsob*

Snowing.Freezing. JALAN TETAP JALAN! (ambil semangat tentera Sultan Muhammad Fatih)

So, where are we heading Dora? Take the map. Find the clue. Oh, today we’re going to Dolmabache Palace!

I saw some pictures of this palace through the internet. Thanks to Mr. Google Image. But then, when I arrived there, I was like…..

"Where’s my prince caspian?, this is seriously-no-kidding a place called Narnia!”

It was a huge breathtaking beautiful palace *gasping for the air*

And.. the snow made it a called place Narnia!

I do remember when I was a small child, I watched Cinderella and I was dreaming to be on her castle. And that day, my dream came true. The staircase, the hall, the architecture, it was a well done job by its architect! Sayang sekali, no camera are allowed!

But, behind all this, there was a story behind this castle.

Dolmabache palace – was built by Sultan Abdulmecid I. Its construction cost about 5 million Ottoman gold coins. *mata bersinar2* I wonder why, I wonder how.. What’s the purpose of this construction? Ahem kaya sgt ke Ottoman Empire sampai bina istana bermillion2 ni? Then, tour guide yang membawa kami pun meng-explain…

“The construction of this palace was on purposed to impress the European country”

I was like.. “oooooo…….” Bila tour guide tu membawa kami dari satu hall ke satu hall dalam palace tu, banyaklah dia mention tentang hall ni artist terkenal ni, batu marmar, seni dari France, Italy and so on. So basically, pembinaan Dolmabahce Palace ni memang teliti and sekecil2 benda pun masih mengekalkan ciri kesenian dan kemewahan yang tinggi! (Tombol pintu dia pun colour pink berukir2)

Then, Nad told me, “Nawal, kalau jual palace ni, mesti boleh bagi 1 country miskin makan kan?”

I nod. During the time of its construction, the community are affected by the idea that “makin berseni suatu empire itu, makin tamadun lah mereka” Ingat tak dulu2 belajar sejarah, Michealangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, semua pelukis2 terkenal ni kan sangat2 dikejar untuk mencantikkan bandar2 di Europe. Ottoman empire ketika ini juga tidak terkecuali dengan idealogi ni. Maka, Dolmahbahce Palace dibina dengan tujuan nak impress Europe. Tapi, apabila manusia tidak lagi menjadikan Allah sebagai Yang Satu untuk di-impress, tujuan hidup kita sudah mula berubah. Malah, dengan pembinaan yang menggunakan cost yang tinggi ini, Ottoman Empire akhirnya jatuh muflis. So, mahukan kita kesudahan yang begini? *deep in the heart, nauzubillahuminzalik, ya Allah jauhkan aku*

The story of Dolmabahce gave me a lot of lessons. Before leaving this palace, I was talking to myself.. “Today, I ‘ve been to a place called Narnia, cantikkkk, agak2 macam mana syurga nanti? Terasa sangat jauh nak dream to a place called jannah..”

Bye bye Dolmabahce Palace. But hey, taking pictures is a must! So here’s a lil bit,

 

Dora, where’s our next pit stop?

Rumeli Hisari.  Eh, Museum Military! (change of plan due to snow)

Umm… umm… Museum military eh? Haha, show me gun, show me sword, show me cannon, my face will stay the same .______. haha, to be honest, I had no interest to all these stuff. But, there are still few things that attract me. The story of the conquest, the chain that surround Golden Horn, and Mehter!

Mehter? Never heard of it? Let me tell you. It was a band that built by Sultan Muhammad Fatih around the time of conquest. We got the chance to watch their performance. It was good and really pembangkit semangat! Nisha said, their music was meant to raise the spirit of the soldiers during the conquest!

Ohh, the military museum was actually once a military school

……………..

Then, off to Spice Bazaar! This is the best part huh? We do love Kapali Carsi(closed bazaar) (until…wait for Day 5)

So, today, are you gonna shop till you drop? *teringat pesan abah, jangan membazir* so, I’m gonna be the smartest buyer today

Before we called it a day, we went to have dinner in the restaurant under the bridge to eat FISH! Yummy yummy! After all the day, we’ve bee cherished with the free tea and sweets by the restaurant owner. Thank you, jazakumullah khayr pakcik pakcik semua

Let’s called it a day huh? Goodnite Istanbul <3

Assalamualaikum!

Turkey Through The Ages : Day 1, falling in love :)

Assalamualaikum

Alrite, the journey begins! The very first place to visit was Aya Sofia, or some called it Hagia Sofia. Basically, what is it Nawal?

Actually, it was a church when it was built. Then, after the 1453 conquest (I’ll get back to this later), Sultan Muhammad Fatih changed it to a mosque.

*the entrance*

Entrance to this museum was a bit expensive, but since it is among most important place to visit, never mind! When I first step into this place, I was very amazed. Subhanallah. What a huge historical building. I was touched to see its transformation. To see a big board, which on it written Allah, Muhammad and 4 caliph, the feeling was indescribable.

What so special about this place is, it is very unique. It shows the transformation of a church to a mosque. After being transformed into a mosque, the minarets, minarets and mimbar was added.

Sadly, it was again transformed into the museum after the secularization!

The second place we visited this day was Basilica Cistern.

*me with Kak Fida*

The fee for this place was 10 lira. It was quite expensive to a small place like this one. But we decided to just pay. When I stepped into it, me and Nad were like, whoaaaahhhhh worth our 10 lira!! Haha, this place is magical!

Dim, dark, and wet yet amazing! Walking through it, Nisha the storyteller told us the history of this place. It was once the cistern that filtrate the water and supply to main building in Constantinople. I murmured alone, “wow, hebatnya orang zaman dulu2”

During daurah (before the journey), they told us that in this place, there’s Medusa column. Haha, I am really interested in Medusa since she has snake-head hair and her eyes can transform someone into stone (believe me, this is just legend, and it’s not true hahaha). So I was so excited to go to that column. Then, this was what I found hehehe

 

Yay! I met Medusa haha even only as simple as that. Medusa, y u know more scary??

Allahuakbar.. We heard azan. Time to pray. We went to Blue Mosque.

Blue Mosque also known as Sultan Ahmed Mosque. Why blue?? It is called blue mosque because of its interior design which mostly in blue. But, nowadays, the blue colour isn’t obvious as ancient time. Still, to have chance to pray in this historical mosque, alhamdulillah Yet, the niat is more important!

What’s next??? Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum!

Errkkk again, the entrance fee dissapoint us. We decided to just make a photo outside, and story telling of its history outside.

The building of the museum used to be the Ibrahim Pasha Palace. Who is Ibrahim Pasha?

Ibrahim Pasha was the first Grand Vizier in Ottoman Empire. He has no royal blood at all. So what make him so special until he could own a palace?

During childhood, he was sold to Anatolia, where Sultan Sulaiman the Magnificent got his education. There he became best friend with Sultan and at the same time, he received his education there too. Ibrahim Pasha was very talented that te got promoted rapidly by Sultan  until he said to Sultan to stop promoted him to avoid any misunderstood. Sultan Sulaiman gave this palace to him as the gift. Sultan swore that under his reign, Ibrahim shouldn’t be executed. But due to jealousy of the wife of Sultan, she accused Ibrahim for doing bad and at the end, Sultan executed him after taking back his oath. But, Sultan already gave chance for Ibrahim to run away but Ibrahim chose to stay true to Sultan. Sultan regretted his decision after the execution.

The story of Ibrahim Pasha really touched me. How fate of someone could change drastically. Wallahualam.

In front of this museum is Hippodrome! It was once a place where horse ‘s races took place. But it was completely destroyed by earthquake and only 3 things remained.

And last place to visit…. Grand Bazaar!   

People said, shop till you drop! But Nawal…. not yet! Today is just the first day! Haha ;p

Day 1 : I came without expectation to Istanbul. No at all. But then, Allah had widen my eyes, and Istanbul seemed so interesting, beautiful to me. I'm falling in love with Turkey <3 <3 Alhamdulillah!

What about day 2? Wait……… Assalamualaikum!

Turkey Through The Ages : Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. The beginning.

Assalamualaikum

Long time no see. Long time no write. Hehe I miss you blog! So, exam was over, alhamdulillah. And next was winter holiday! *excited* this is my first time ever to experience the winter holiday. So for months, I’ve been thinking where should I go. At first, I was planning to go to Spain. But then, I change my decision. Based on the clue He gave me, I decided to go to Turkey

To be honest…… Turkey wasn’t even in my wishlist. Ahaha. I don’t even know what’s so special about Turkey. Is it beautiful? Is it favourite holiday spot that I must go before I die? When I heard my other friends are going to European countries, I was really confused with my own decision. I’ve been spending 1k just for the tickets, and still I’m confused. I did research about Turkey. Then I found out that Istanbul is actually Constantinople. Haha silly me! I was like, seriously? Then I slowly became excited!

So the day come, 25 Jan 12 here we go! bismillah…

Alhamdulillah. Safely arrived at Attaturk International Airport around 10pm. After a bit sesat2 finally we found our hostel. Cheers hostel. We stayed there throughout our trip. It was a nice place to stay eventhough every night we could here the party yang sangat bingit and sakit telinga. At least we got free breakfast everyday!

 

to be continued……….