What is the capital of Turkey? Is Turkey in Europe or Asia? Do they have turkeys in Turkey? All of these questions will NOT be answered as we embark on a new adventure to the historically rich nation which was recently renamed to Turkiye. Say so much actually we are only really here to sit hot air balloon.
Our lupsup airport fashion makes it almost impossible for you to guess who is flying to Turkey and who isn’t.
Being required to wear masks at the airport tells you how long ago this trip was. Many thanks to Jh and Th for sending us off as if we were going away for a few months.
Taking Turkish airlines today and their spot the difference games certainly helped with the 11 hours flight duration.
Rea and Jl made the logical choice to have some Asian food before 9 consecutive days of kebabs.
While the pasta slut in me came out on top..
We didn’t get any options for breakfast, similar to how some of us did not choose to produce warm farts that smell like hell so let’s be more sensitive, people.
Surviving well on the red eye flight since we had a taste of long hauls from our Swiss trip.
Merhaba Istanbul! Arrived in the wee hours of the morning to gloomy weather.
Took an uber to town because it wasn’t that expensive. The value of Turkish Lira has been dropping drastically since 5 years ago. It was SGD 1:12 Lira when we went and now it’s at 1:26! 他们就不好咯.
But thanks to their shit currency, we were able to stay at a FIVE STAR HOTEL for ~SGD 180 per night.
Complimentary cookies by Doubletree. Wasn’t amazing but a nice little snack to have.
We were starving and tired from our journey, so let’s solve these issues in that order.
Our first meal is a traditional Turkish breakfast of Menemen aka scrambled eggs, tomatoes and peppers served in a skillet.
吃饭了!
Also came with lots of bread to mop up the juices. Nice. After breakfast, we returned to the FIVE STAR HOTEL for a brief nap before continuing with our exploration of Istanbul.
Awaking from our slumber 2 hours later, we headed to Emirgan Park for the Tulip Festival.
We begin with a peaceful lake populated with ducks and tortoises..
..and fat, furry cats.
We were treated to flowers of all colours and sizes.
The peak period for tulips is in April but they were still in full bloom when we visited in May.
From Switzerland close eyes until Turkiye.
Putting my freshly acquired photography skills to good use after being trained by Ivy on the previous trip.
But with flowers as gorgeous as these, it’s easy to take nice photos without much effort.
Nice.
Chio.
路边的野花不要採.
Dm me for pre-wed photoshoot packages. My iphone 13 pro max will not let you down.
See flowers until hungry so we tried a Turkish snack known as Islak burger.
It’s a burger slathered in tomato sauce and kept in those kopitiam bao steamer.
Won’t that make the burger soggy and disgusting you ask? Yes it does, and it was indeed soggy and disgusting.
After having our fill of tulips and shitty burgers, we ubered to Taksim Square, a tourist and shopping district.
The monument in the middle represents the military and civil reforms that dissolved the Ottoman empire and formed modern Turkey in 1923.
The square is linked to İstiklal Caddesi, a pedestrian shopping street that can be found in every major European city.
If my country inflation until so gaolat i will also drag behind the MRT like this.
Away fans from Trabzonspor on a fan march before attending the soccer match. Coincidentally, they were 1 game away from winning the Turkish league, which explains why they were so high.
We then hopped into a little alley called Çiçek Pasajı which means Flower Alley but there were no flower shops, only restaurants inside.
Anyways, we took it as a cue for dinner time.
Mahzen is an underground restaurant that resembles a sex dungeon used by previous sultans.
We begin with some lamb liver which was as 骚 as my wife.
My tastebuds were saved from the smell of the animal kingdom by some smoked salmon.
Our main was a Turkish equivalent of a mixed grill. Pretty good but nothing spectacular.
They offered us complimentary desserts that almost amputated my legs but anything free is good in my kiasu books.
Spot the bright light bulb in this dark underground restoran.
Eh i thought Colin’s is sell western food one why come here become clothes shop.
Onto this dodgy alley for some after meal kopi.
Turkish coffee is famed for the unique brewing method and being extremely gao.
Not sure if coffee or hot chocolate.
Just wanted to share with you guys that Jl say she drink already tonight cannot sleep will stay up “聊天“ all night with Reagan.
Spotted Jh’s love on our way back to the FIVE STAR HOTEL.
Grabbed a kebab sandwich for supper to see how it fares against the rubbish we have in our pasar malams.
But the meat they gave was so little that i could not tell the difference. Oh wells, a million other kebabs to try and more stories to tell. See you in the next post!
- End of Day 1 -
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