03/01/2024
It's Wednesday again, so the carpark opposite our hotel turned into a market place again.
This time we made time to walk around.
Bought bananas, good for my butt.
Pomegranate.
Eggs with 50 shades of white and beige.
看了都开心的 veg.
Very colorful turkish candies but we knew would be too sweet for our liking.
After that was walking pass Sultanahmet Park as usual. Cat very cute but refused to face the camera lolxx...
Then this feather big fellow shared our path and strolled like king, yup, it totally ignored us fearlessly waahaahaa...
Still had maple leaves.
Had an expensive breakfast at Simit Cafe located along the metro cos I wanted to try the freshly made turkish pancake.
Turkish lady with white scarf and apron, long skirt like a cottage fairy tale granny. She looked so lovely in my eyes.
No oil, very healthy. We had minced chicken with cheese filling, I missed this so much, haiz... don't know when will I have a chance again...
Super thick make up cos going for photoshoot.
Very hiao.
Chicken cheese pancake + eggs with bread + 2 turkish tea = 600TR.
Chillax.
Heading to Sultanahmet station.
I had my itinerary printed out. I know I can keep it in my phone, but having something physical in hand gives me a sense of security.
I was looking for directions to the photo studio.
Walking in Fatih, it's more local here, didn't see much tourists in this area.
This district sells textile I guess.
Small Turkish coffee stall, customers could sit in a lane for a short break.
With lots of distracts, took almost an hour to reach Taht Istanbul Photo studio.
They accept card but imposed a ridiculous 20% surcharge. Luckily we were able to draw money from a bank nearby. The lady at the counter wasn't too friendly, the lady who helped me seemed overworked and didn't really bother.
View from the photo studio's lobby where I "parked" my old man, he refused to have to photoshoot with me.
Istanbul was amazing, all you needed was to climb around 4 floors, to have a nice view of the city and Bosphorus, no need to climb a mountain.
The costumes were not bad.
The photographer was very nice (that's the most important thing), these were some indoor photos at the lamp room.
I was deciding between dark blue and red, was very happy with my choice.
Roof top photos. What happened was there was a worker, lured the sea gulls with small pieces of chicken. They flew around me but never once pooped on me or on the carpet/cushions.
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It was a gloomy day threatening to rain, I edited the blue sky myself.
Felt like a queen lolxx...
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Then this bird hit my head with it's wing, I almost died lolxx...
This one flew towards the camera man and he screamed waahaahaahaaa...
This was the indoor, probably a backup in case it rained.
The pink theme was sooooo pretty!
Selfies.
This taken by old man.
The photoshoot was about an hour, after that the photos were put into my thumb drive on the spot.
Then we continued to walk around Fatih. Many kitchen ware and ceramics, I wished I could tug all home.
Another unknown historical structure.
Found rainbow stairs.
Not exactly hungry though it was lunch time. Kinda pulled in by workers/boss from a random stall. I was a bit tired after the photoshoot and all the walking, so we shared a plate.
Delicious, especially the fluffy puffy rice.
After lunch making our way to Eminonu station with lots of distractions and attractions.
Missing Istanbul while doing this post...
I was crazy over wooden cutlery but the price here not as good as Thailand's.
I bought an egg pan here.
Fake brand shoes, quality not what we wanted.
I couldn't tell they were real or not...
Walked across the bridge, then took a metro to Taksim.
Taksim metro at the basement and it moved in staggard up slope.
It was just like Europe but better cos we were free from pick pockets. Beautiful and safe here.
The money changer in Istanbul and Cappadocia do not except SGD. Lesson learnt, must carry Euro or US dollar in future.
They accept Japanese yen though, why huh??
On the way to a restaurant requested by him.
A tower of Turkish sweet pastry.
It's like Orchard Road here.
Found Meat Moot Restaurant, it's a hidden gem!
We had beef + salad + soup + many sauces + drinks, was about S$40, value for money!
Taksim at night. It was very Christmasy.
It's Istanbul, not Paris.
Bought a bit more.
Then we chanced upon Church of Saint Anthony of Padua build in 1725, rebuild 1921.
I bought candles to make a wish. Gave 10euros instead of 10TL, luckily the person was kind and honest enough to return me the money.
Wished for good health and safe flights nia.
Super pretty cafe.
It was now or never cos our days in Turkiye was coming to an end. Nom nom Istanbul cheese cake with Belgian chocolate.
Ginger cat sleeping in the cafe, it's crazy cute.
Happy me.
If only I am so pretty in real life...
After supper, walked from Taksim to Galata Tower, it was a down slope of half a km. Luckily I took the advice from someone online. It would be a torture if we started from Galata Tower to Taksim walking up slope.
The tower was build in 1749 as jail, now it's a museum. People paid to go up for the view. We had no intention to do that, it's under renovation any way.
By 9pm, most shops were closed, took us a bit of time to find the metro station.
Back to Sultanahmet, 2 local ladies came to me and requested to take photo with me. They said I was a beautiful chinese lolxx... I must looked exotic to them, laughed die me.
Next day, I had "me time" in Topkapi Palace while old man went back to sleep.
