After surviving a 10-hour flight from Malaysia, we finally arrived in Istanbul, Turkey. : )
A beautiful morning greeted our arrival in Istanbul. The sun was just rising up that day and the temperature was about 6 degrees Celsius. For someone who comes from a tropical-climate country, my wife and I were shivering!! But it does not hinder us from admiring the view. We have heard so much about this beautiful country, but this is the first time that we have had the chance to visit. We started taking pictures almost immediately and only stop 8 days later. click! click! click! Hehe.. :)
We have pre-booked our accommodation in the Aslan Hotel, which is just walking distance away from Turkey's most famous landmark - the beautiful Blue Mosque. We checked into the hotel, had our breakfast and off we go, venturing our first day in this beautiful country. We took a walk to the Blue Mosques, which actual name is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. The nick name 'Blue Mosque' came about from its blue-ish appearance.
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| Sultan Ahmad Mosque (The Blue Mosque) |
Historically, this mosque was build in the 1600, meant to match the beauty of Al-Aqsa Mosque of Jurussalam at that time. It stands beautifully until today as a fully functioning mosque. It is simply a breath-taking sight! Benches were also prepared just outside the Blue Mosque for people to just sit and admire the beauty of the mosque.
Just across from The Blue Mosque, there stood another magnificent structure named Hagia Sophea, also pronounced as Ayasofia. A structure that not only stood the test of time, but also the change of religion rules.
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| Ayasofia |
Inside Ayasofia contains well-preserved relics from both the Christianity and the Islamic civilizations. Ayasofia used to be a church, which was later converted into a Mosque during the rule of the Ottoman Empire. But now, it is neither a church nor a mosque - it has been made into a museum now.
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| Islamic and Christianity relics well-preserved |
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| Inside Ayasofia |
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| Inside Ayasofia |
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| Inside Ayasofia |
Next, we visited an old palace, which is just a walking distant away from the earlier two landmarks.
The palace, once an administrative center during the Ottomon Empire, is now a museum - Topkapi Palace.
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| Entrance to Topkapi Palace |
Relics in this palace goes way back, even before the royals of Turkey. It actually goes back to the time of the prophets. We had the opportunity to view the relics of Prophet Muhammad SAW including his footprint, his official seal, his armor, his beard and his sword.
Besides that, we also saw relics of other prophets. Some of these relics includes the stick of Prophet Musa (Moses), with which he used - with the will of Allah - to confront the Pharaoh and also split the Red Sea; the the sword of Prophet Daud (David), which he uses during his reign as king of Jurussalam; the turban of Prophet Yusof (Joseph), which he wore during his lifetime; and the cup of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), which he used to drink from.
Sadly, we were not allowed to take any photos in there. We can only take pictures from outside the rooms of the palace.
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| The room that contains relics of the prophets |
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| Topkapi Palace |
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| Topkapi Palace - Royal Council Hall |
We spent the whole day for those 3 landmarks, then we head back to our hotel room and ready for Day 2.
Read PART 2 here - STILL IN ISTANBUL
Read PART 2 here - STILL IN ISTANBUL
