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I've been travelling often the past couple of weeks, and that explains my disappearance sometimes from the forums. Travelling is my favorite hobby. I adore cultures, traditions of different nations and their heritage, languages, food, music, and history. Recently I've visited Madrid, Granada, Tanger, and Turkey.

For now, I'll be sharing some photos of my recent trip to Turkey, and later on I'll post the other photos of Spain, and Morocco.

My trip to Turkey lasted for 3 full days, excluding the days of arrival and departure. I rented a car from the airport (worth 700 AED for 3 days) and drove all the way to Taksim Square where my hotel was located. The hotel was 4 stars with a very attracting price (240 AE per night, including breakfast). We arrived at night and took us 30 min to reach Taksim. Once we (me and my 2 other friends) parked our car & checked in, we went for a walk in Taksim and had Kabab Iskendar for dinner. This dish is one of my FAVORITES! I Highly recommend it and there is one Turkish restuarant in Dubai that does it well, place called Harput, behind Mall of the Emirates.

This is the view from the airplane, and these are mountains of Kurdistan region in Northern Iraq.



1st Day .. ((Tour in Istanbul))

1) We took the bus to go to the European side of Istanbul where the old city is located with all the attractions.


2) We stopped in the wrong bus station, so we had to continue on walking. Here we were approaching Masjed Sultan Ahmet.


3) Masjed Sultan Ahmet ..


4) Inside Sultan Ahmet ..


5) A Turkish man washing (ablution) preparing for the noon prayers.


6) An entrance to the masjed.


7) Aya Sofya is located opposite to Sultan Ahmet Mosque. Photo was taken from inside Sultan Ahmet.


8) Aya Sofya was once a Cathedral, and later on a Mosque, and now a Museum.


9) Church + Mosque . .


10) Inside Aya Sofya, a blended mixture of Byzantine and Ottoman archetucture.


11) This is a painting of Jibra'eel (Gabriel) the Angel, and the dome is filled with Quranic verses.


12) Two Turkish ladies cleaning some parts of a column inside Aya Sofya.


13) Columns ..


14) Myself, and a final look at this beautifull piece of art of two great civilizations.


15) Outside again, between Sultan Ahmet & Aya Sofya, is a beautifull old Ottoman drink water.


16) You can take a photo with this Turkish man wearing old customs


17) A Turkish couple in the garden of old square.


18) Newly married Turkish couple


19) The Topkapi Palace, is the official & primary residence in the city of the Ottoman Sultans.


20) View from inside Topkapi ..


21) Topkapi has a lot of old items, gifts shared by Ottomans and other kings of their time, sadly tourists aren't allowed to take photos inside. However this is the entrance to the Islamic musuem where items belonging to Prophets Mohammad, Mosa (Moses), Yahya (John), Yousef (Joseph), and other compangians are all found inside. It was gathered from Levant, Egypt, and Arabia and kept safe at the Ottomans.



22) The Ottoman tombs.


We then left Topkapi and walked towards the Spice Bazar, which Turks also call it "Misiri Pazaar" .
Goods were sent from Egypt to Istanbul along with Caravans on a trade line and being sold here.

23) Spice Market (Misir Carsisi) ..


24) Inside the Bazaar ..


25) Turkish desserts! A turkish couple craving these desserts


End of 1st Day.

Oh, Sym, your photos are lovely. Thanks for sharing your holiday with us.

I agree, Iskander is sooooooooooooo delish!!! We only knew of one restaurant near the Gold Souk in Deira that we would go to ever two weeks or so (several years ago). Then we found another small restaurant in the Safeway market - but it didn't compare. Will definitely look for the one you mentioned behind MOE.

Looking forward to more photos!!!!

Hmmm I can't see the pics, I assume you uploaded it in one of the blocked sites, I will see them when I got home!

I totally loved Turkey. It is one of the best countries I have ever been to, beautiful nature, those amazing islands, super kind people, lovely food and I must add shopping to this list too!

2nd Day .. ((Tour in Abant Lake, Bolu))
we drove all the way from Istanbul to visit a famous lake called "Abant Lake", in a city called Bolu that is almost 4.5 to 5 hours away from Istanbul driving by car.

The high way was beautiful and had nice scenery, here are the photos of our 2nd day of our trip.

1) Leaving European Istanbul towards Asian side, this is the famous bridge connecting both sides.


2) We stopped for a break on the highway, and had a bite of the famous Turkish dessert Baklava.


3) Villages are found all around the highway ..


4) Approaching Abant


5) Timber covered with frost ..


6) Mountains covered with snow ..


7) The Lake from a far view ..


8) The beautiful Lake of Abant ^^)


We had fun skiing on the snow, and enjoyed the beautiful nature. We had lunch at a nice hut around the lake, some authentic Turkish cuisine and offcourse more Baklava

We then drove back towads Istanbul, and our 2nd day ended.

-- Sun Jan 30, 2011 2:24 pm --

3rd Day .. ((Tour in Edirne))

Morning of the 3rd day of our trip, we drove towards Edirne, which is located in the European side of Turkey, boardering both Bulgaristan and Greece. Edirne was the second capital city of the Ottomans. The city is well known for its spiritual environment, which I read about before going and I did sense that over there.

We went on Friday, and we attended Friday prayers in Selimiye Masjed, which has the largest Minaras in all Turkey and huge domes. The masjed was designed by the famous Turkish architect Mimar Sinan.

Majority of Turks follow the Sunni school of Hanafi, which was set by the Persian scholar Nouman ibn Thabet Marzuban, aka Abi Hanifa. Where as Turks of Iranian origins are all Sunni Shafites. You could tell who's Hanafi and who is Shafi when conducting the prayers, the Hanafis would say "Amen" almost whispering it, where as the Shafiis would say louder. Turks, like Iranians are also influenced with the Sufi Tariqas.

There are old churches as well found in Edirne that are kept safe till today.

People in Edirne are quite conservative, and the city is very clam. Weather is more cold than Istanbul, and it has very beautiful scenery along the highway.

Here are the photos ..

1) On the way to Edirne!


2) A very beautiful village on the highway side..


3) Approaching Selimiye Masjed through the narrow streets of Edirne..


4) Selimye Masjed ..


5) Selimye Bazar ..


6) The entrance of one of the old mosques ..


7) An old Bulgarian church in Edirne ..


8) Another view of Edirne narrow streets ..


9) A Turkish school with kids playing ..


10) I took this shot a bit far away, looked interesting with two Turks one baking bread, and the other cooking the Doner Kabab.



11) This way leads to Bulgaristan, which I'll visit sometime soon hopefully



12) An AMAZING view, I consider it the best shot of my trip!


13) Another angle of the same view ..



14) Turkish Shepherd ..


15) A Turkish farmer ..


16) The Bridge of Edirne, or Capri Edirne as the Turks call it.



17) One last foto with the bridge. Thats me to the left and my friend to the right.



- - - -

We had lunch at an authentic Turkish restaurant and met some nice Kurds there whom I enjoyed chit chatting with in my humble spoken Farsi as they spoke it Perhaps most of the Lebanese/Syrian food that are being served in their restaurants is of Turkish origins. Lahmacun, Mhammara, Baba Ghannoj, grape leaves with rice, and many others. And when we were done, the waitor would serve red tea (chai) and if you refuse, he'd insist and say "Ekraam", which means "Hospitality"

And then we drove back to Istanbul again ..


- - - - -

By the next morning, we quickly went back to Taksim, and quickly baught some kilos of the delicioussss Baklava to take with us back home

Then headed towards the airport, dropped the car back.

Alveda Türkiye // Good Bye Turkey ..

Symm,

Nice photos, Bud!

I also enjoyed reading your writing about it!

I’ve been to turkey several times, but I definitely did not cover as much as you did.

I’ll save the link to your thread, to take along with me on my next trip!!!

Thanks for posting!


Tom

I was in turkey last september and visited Istanbul and Ankara

Its a great place, the food is fresh and awesome, the people are interesting, and ancient sights are all over the country.
You get fresh orange juices on the streetsfor ~6 dhs.

Oh, and a cruise on the Bosphorus was unforgettable....

Hey sym - thanks for sharing. Great photos.

Brings back memories of business trips to Istanbul.

When I last was in Aya Sofia, they had scaffolding up and it covered half the dome - but good to see that the restoration of that part is now complete.

Did you also visit the Harem area at Topkapi?

Cheers,
Shafique

Very nice! I'd really like to visit there someday. (Am still drooling over the desserts in the one photo there!)

BlackburnRovers wrote:I was in turkey last september and visited Istanbul and Ankara

Its a great place, the food is fresh and awesome, the people are interesting, and ancient sights are all over the country.
You get fresh orange juices on the streetsfor ~6 dhs.

Oh, and a cruise on the Bosphorus was unforgettable....

I know what you mean Istanbul is a very picturesque city especially if you are a professional photographer..
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=169199
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=758132
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=406390

Nice!
Yes, you do look tired in Pic. No. 2, when you are approaching Masjid Sultan Ahmet

Nice pics.

Being a bit of a 'Snapper' myself, I can tell why you like the one shot of the tree and the countryside. Composition: it follows the 'Rule of Thirds'.



Knight

Good stuff mate, thanks.

nice1 mate!

@ All .. You're most welcome guys, its always good to share

@ Bora .. Whats the name of the Turkish restaurant in Diera? I suppose its worth a try

@ Melika .. Turkey is indeed amazing! It's a place I can live/settle in due to similarities in many aspects.

@ Tom .. Its actually my 2nd trip to Turkey. First trip was in summer2006 and lasted for 2 weeks, visited 9 different cities. I always make sure I cover the cultural aspects any country/city I visit. Please let me know if you need any travelling tips

@ BlackburnRovers .. I couldn't agree more! A cruise on the Bosphor is simply breath-taking ^^

@ Shafique .. I didn't unfortunately, they were closing the place and we took adv of the time we got to cover the main parts of Topkapi. Did you visit it?

@ Kanelli .. It was sooo delicioussssss

@ Zonker .. Hahaha, poor old man =P

@ DK .. Rule of Thirds didn't cross my mind actually, lets just say I take shots in sense of imagining it as a painting with a frame

@ DD & RB .. Thanks guys!