Mission Istanbul - Day One

Mama & Abah sending us off - with one very first time flyer :-D

One seasoned flyer! Might as well get him a "miles" card ;-)

Luqman, my sister and I, Alhamdulillah safely arrived in Istanbul at around 6 am, Istanbul time on the 2nd of July after almost 10 hours flight from KLIA. After fiddling a bit with the token fares for the train, we then travel by the metro train & tram combo to Sultanahmet. It cost about TL 3.50 per person. Since it's way too early for check in time at Hotel Erboy in Sultanahmet, we safe kept our luggage and freshen up before heading straight to the Topkapi Palace. The palace is now a museum and is a mere 5-10 minutes walk from our hotel. It took us almost 4 hours to finish the allowed sections of the palace including part of the Harem (the Harem cost us a separate entrance fee of TL15 per person on top of the TL20 for the palace). The palace, especially with its showcases of jewelery and also some of the Prophet's  (including Nabi Daud and Nabi Musa) and companions' relics are very impressive. But seriously, it's not very friendly to visitors with strollers. In fact, I think almost most parts of Istanbul, is not very pram/stroller friendly. There's not enough walking pavement and even if there's any, it's made of rugged stones that made your child's pram ride like a roller coaster. Having said that, Luqman loved the roller coaster ride though. But I don't think his stroller wheels would think the same :-D 

Anyway, I also think, Istanbul is a city filled with lots of historical sites which are best enjoyed without your children. It's a walking city and truthfully, children will get tired and bored very easily, while their parents gawked at and admired all the beautiful sites and building! It's also very frustrating trying to get the best of pictures and trying to monitor them at the same time. I will definitely think of this fact the next time around I will be in Turkey. (I will be back, Insya Allah). 

Although it can be trying and tiring at times 'managing' Luqman and his stroller, but it somewhat went away, when there will always be Turkish people  and also  some others  wanting to play with him, taking his pictures and videos of him babbling. I have read reports about how babies are loved in Turkey, but seeing how true it is, day in and day out, in various occasion and venues, made you think - hey! these people really do love babies :-D So it's an interesting experience, indeed. But on a serious note, to enjoy and really appreciate Istanbul, you can't rush it, it needs time, lots of time.

The current entrance

Palace grounds

Life in the Harem

In the Harem courtyard

Luqman playing with his strollers in the Harem's courtyard

Luqman in the Crown Prince chamber

Palace grounds overlooking the Bosphorus...

Luqman and Achik in the palace grounds

The Sacred Trust section entrance with the Prophets' and Companions' Relics

Luqman getting bored by the hour ;-)

So I let him run around the palace seaside cafe. Picture Below, looking up from the cafe, one can see the scale of the palace height.

 

We reached the hotel back at 2 pm to finally checked in! The hotel's room is a bit on the small side, but very, clean, new and modern. We were located on the first floor right on top the hotel's restaurant. It had a small balcony. I can open the wooden doors for fresh air. Early morning, I can smell the scent of bread cooking down below and also hear the Azan from the all the mosques around the hotel.  Speaking of mosque, although the Blue Mosque may be one of the most famous one here, but there are a whole lot of mosque nearby. They all basically looked the same from the outside as the Blue Mosque, perhaps only differing on size, but inside, they all have their very own character.

The view of the alley behind the hotel from our balcony