the amazing Istanbul, Turkiye pt. 2

Where did I stop. Yeah at Spice Bazaar where we heard so many charming words came out from the local retailers.  I saw only men sell stuff at Spice Bazaar.  Then we went to Hagia Sofia, which has a very unique interior design.  Hagia Sofia was originally built as a Great Church then converted into a mosque in 1453.  Hagia Sofia was used as a church for 91 years while later it was used as a mosque for 481 years.  Although there were some Islamic elements added into the interior and the architecture of the building, the christian paintings are still remained.  After that, we went to Basilica Cistern.  It was quite dark and I felt a little bit eerie here. It was dug and built probably after 542. Water was brought to this underground cistern for water supplies for the city. We saw two Medusa heads to form bases for two columns in a far corner of the cistern, which was a bit creepy to me.  It is believed that gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone. U can read more about her here.

taken from Shahidah Mohd Said's facebook.

3rd day~ we visited Suleymaniye Mosque.  Beautiful historical architecture that was built between 1550 - 1557.  It has a spacious courtyard surrounds the mosque.  Then we went to Pierri Lotti Hill to enjoy the Bosphorus view. Here I could see the graveyard that was probably exist many2 years ago.  I found a small cute bottle of Coke here, my all time favourite soda! I bought ONLY two.  I should've bought more, it will make good souvenirs! Damn!  After that, we went to Grand Bazaar.  We got to rush like hell, and there was no time to snap pics there as we were struggling with time! All of us didn't have enough time to shop... I managed to only buy some souvenirs and couple of shawls to bring home.  At Grand Bazaar most of the retailers were not nice, they were quite rude.  Most of them didn't like it when we tried to negotiate to get a cheaper price.

Some pics were taken by my camera, some are from Shahidah's fb album.

4th day~ free and easy! After we had done our business visit at TTNET, we took a tram ride along Istiklal Street heading to Taksim Square, it was awesome!  Then we walked back to the hotel.  On the way back, we had the best food during our stay, which was the roadside Taksim Doner Kebab.  I chose this shop because it was appeared on TV a while ago. Walaupun takde Chilli Sauce, tetap sedap gilerrrz!!!

The most memorable thing about Istanbul was, everywhere we go, mesti ada  FAT cats... I felt like hugging and squeezing the adorable fat cats... Here's one of them, such a handsome cat I found at Hagia Sofia!  I miss him very much!!!

taken from Faten Liyana fb.

Istanbul Turkiye ~ A place that all of us should go.  They have totally different culture and totally different lifestyle and rich with historical complexes.  

"If one had but a single glance to give the world, one should gaze on Istanbul." - Alphonse de Lamartin.