We first had a flight from Medan to Jakarta at 11 a.m., arrived at Soekarno-Hatta airport Terminal 1 at around 2 p.m and spent more than 3 hours in Old Town White Coffee at Terminal 2D till our meeting time with fellow tour members. It was so boring though haha, we didn't know what to do till 6 p.m and we played chess (though we're total beginners!) and othello to kill time. We're really happy when the clock showed 6 p.m and we got to the meeting point to meet the other members. Though we hadn't known each other at that moment, they all looked friendly and I was feeling excited already. 

The 12-hour flight set out at 20.35 from Jakarta straight to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines. This was my very first flight with Turkish Airlines, and I was satisfied with their service, the facilities and the amenities they provided! The cabin crew first served us peanut filling turkish delight, which was really yummy, and their in-flight meal was so tasty too. :d (psst, tried white wine for the first time on board! don't tell my mom!)

It was a really long flight though, and since we'd arrive the next morning, we had to get some sleep on the plane. It was quite hard for me to fall asleep, maybe due to the excitement and also because I was still not used to sleeping with a sitting position. :(  I was completely envious to those who were very lucky to get empty seats beside them that they could use the extra space to lie down. 

Finally after the long 12 hours, stretched some muscles and here we were, touch down at Istanbul's Ataturk airport!! 

It was 5 in the morning when we landed, and it was getting bright outside. After getting briefed for a while, passed the arrival gate, exchanged some US Dollars to Turkish Lira, and met our local guide,  we finally got acquainted officially with Istanbul. We were informed that it was summer in Turkey, but our first step outside the airport was greeted with a chill wind blowing us off. Brrr. It was unexpectedly "cool" for summer. They said it was because we went there in June, when it was not entirely summer yet, the perfect weather to travel in Turkey. Go there in July or August, you'll feel burned, cause the temperature can reach 40 degrees. 

We were taken in a big "Smart-bus", the bus can fit around 36 passengers, has wi-fi, and you can even charge your phone in it. And since there were only 16 of us, plus one tour leader from Jakarta, one local tour guide and one driver, the bus was quite vacant, and it's good, we didn't feel cramped in it. 

First thing first, since it's early in the morning, they took us to an Indonesian restaurant owned by local Turkish to have some breakfast. Ahh, they understand us so well. They knew that it would be hard for us to adapt our palate to Turkish taste right away. :) The restaurant is called "Warung Nusantara", the staffs working there are Indonesian, so you'll get the real taste of Indonesian food there! Sluuurrpppp and the spotlight goes to the "Sambal Bajak"!! It tastes good with everything, even simply with lettuce, it was sooooooooooo good! :d:d

Finished breakfast, we set off for the day. 

Spotted the Valens Aqueduct on the way to Topkapi Palace Museum. 

 A slight view of Istanbul city 

 

Found this chic hotel right at the corner of an intersection next to the entrance of the museum.

 Look at the sky! It's so blue!!

It was too bad, that when I arrived at the back side, it was time to gather at the entrance already, I was too late. I spent too much time reading all the information about the royal's collection displayed, that I didn't have time to take picture of the Marmara Sea, and only got a chance to enjoy the view for a few seconds before heading back. But it was really beautiful, the Marmara Sea, that you can hear me gasped in awe in the video haha

*Updated!
Got this video from Jenny's phone. She made it in time to record the Marmara Sea! Yeaaaay!

From the Topkapi Palace Museum, we needed to walk only a bit to visit the Hagia Sophia. They are really close to one another. Hagia Sophia means holy wisdom. It was first constructed as a church during the Latin Empire but then turned into a mosque when Constantinople (now, Istanbul) was conquered by Ottoman Empire, and eventually secularized and opened as a museum. Inside can be seen traces of Catholic and Islamic features on every corner. When we visited it, the museum was still under construction, so we couldn't get the full view of the interior inside. But the museum was so grand that it left me in admiration of how people of the ancient times really did a great job in constructing these majestic buildings without much technology at that time. More info about Hagia Sophia, click here. 

(One of the building in Topkapi Palace Museum complex seen from the other side)

We were given only ten minutes to take pictures with the Trojan Horse, cause there's no parking place for our big bus, so the bus had to make a round back and picked us up. These pictures were taken in a rush but it turned out so well with the perfect sky behind. By the way, it was about 6 pm when we were at the wooden horse, but you can see the sky was still soo bright. It's because the sun sets at 8 something in the summer in Turkey. They really have long days.

Headed to Iris Hotel for our stay that night and it is located right facing the beach! Waaaaww! The view!! This was dinner time and the sun set beside us. What a lovely experience getting to see the sun setting while eating.


There goes the first day of our Turkey Trip. Really delighted to see a lot of wonderful sights in one day. Will be back soon for the second day trip!! Stay updated! Hihi

See you,


xoxo
sillyandordinarygirl