My choice ~ Top Pictures from Istanbul!!

Just the two of us.....and no body else....sailing on!!!

A shot of Hagia Sophia ~ selected mainly due to its backdrop of a beautiful blue sky with clusters of clouds. The picture highlight the prominance of one of its mineret!

Amongst the faces of Istanbul, I found the three above captivating. From each one I could write a story about life ~ life in Istanbul! A street peddler selling bread having a rough day, a pensive old man with a thousand wrinkles, is he about to scream with anger or burst into tears of sorrow? And another old man who has seen it all......with a questioning look of curiousity or authority?!

An old leaf has fallen and partly covering some green shrubs ~ the contrast of old and new and the background of foliage made this an attractive picture. I like it.....well spotted by the photographer.

Haziq captured this picture on the day of our arrival while we were on our familiarization walk around the hotel we were staying, in the Fatih area. I just love this picture!
Hard to explain why I have a special emotional affliation
with the picture ~ perhaps it is the element of loneliness, a feeling of being abandoned.

I tried to choose the best of the sun-set pictures ~there are so many amazing ones ~ finally I settled for these two. One with a sail boat and the other which was taken just as the sun was touching the edge of the water in the horizon. It was a special moment for me.....to have witnessed the sunset!!.

A sea gull landed effortlessly in the water near the ferry terminal jetty of the princess island. The soft waves rocked the sea gull back and forth, making some small ripples. The picture captured an element of serenity and the sea gull's reflection accentuated this same mood.

This picture was taken by Haziq using Canon 40D while on horse carriage on the Princess Island. I like this picture for its details in showing
the steamy breath from the horses ~ capturing the coldness of the morning
and
the hard work being demanded from them.

The Sky of Istanbul!!

Sitting on the upperdeck of the boat-ferry while cruising down the Bhosporous, I silently registered the moments ~ as one of my happiest! Seeing LiL smiling and laughing with her little laughter reminded me the song by Suhaimi Mior Hassan ~ "Bila isteriku tertawa!" Her happiness was my happiness, and I could tell she was happy!!

and so was Zeti! In a way, the trip to Istanbul was a reward for Zeti for her success in her studies. And I was rewarded with a satisfaction beyond measure with a smile such as this one below from her!Even as we were landing at the Istanbul airport on 6th December, I saw a glimpse of the charm from the Istanbul sky! It was 11am in the morning and through the airplane window I saw hues of amber, grey, and cotton white formation of clouds partly hiding a clear blue sky.

Through-out our stay, our camera troopers had a wonderful time clicking away ~ capturing images of towering minerets majestically rising into the skyline This huge flag below was found on the highest point on the Asia side of Istanbul.Our boys had a field day shooting pictures of sea gulls which apparently have learnt to equate humans with food and fun!! The birds were seen flying, cruising and diving ~ putting up a display of agility and playfulness for the tourists!

During a cruise returning from the Princess island, we witnessed a glorious sun-set!
"Angin menderu selembut baldu
menyapa aku yang datang bertamu
kedinginan membekukan sejarah keagungan
yang semakin hanyut dan tenggelam
umpama senja di selimuti malam
penghuni Istanbul melayari Bhosporous
wajah-wajah semakin muram
tersepit di antara pusaran arus
memisahkan di antara dua benua
mencorakkan kehidupan berbagai warna
menari rentak irama sekular
kau tahu sumbang, melangkah juga
hukum agama tergadai kemana?
kenapa?
Aku hanya datang bertamu
melayari Bhopsorous menghayati sejarah mu"

"Jika kau nampak aku tersenyum

tak kala bersendirian begitu
maka ketahuilah
aku tersenyum kerana aku ada kamu
dan aku melihat senyuman di wajah mu"

"Matahari di waktu senja ku renung
sering tenggelam di perjanjian waktu
walau di junjung setinggi gunung
pasti di telan lautan biru.
Kenapa pula aku.....
inginkan segalanya, untuk selamanya!
sedangkan sudah pasti, yang datang akan pergi
yang di dunia tiada yang kekal abadi!"

Cats in Istanbul !

I was looking through the pictures taken in Istanbul by my camera troopers ~ Along, Achik, Haziq and Luqman ~ when I noticed so many pictures of cats.

During our walk on the first day in Fatih, there were five pictures of cats. Then amongst pictures taken at the Topkapi palace, there were more cats! They were every where, in different colours but mostly fat!
Even during our tour to the Princess island, I saw pictures of cats ~ even one where cats and dogs were sun-bathing together in perfect harmony. The Malay adage of "Like cats and dogs" used to described quarelling siblings does not hold true in Istanbul. Over there, cats and dogs do not fight! I wonder why.......

The camera boy assured me that he was taking the cat's picture, and the girl happened to be there! And I said, why didn't you take more pictures of cats where pretty girls happened to be there!! LiL somehow raised her eyebrows ~ disapprovingly! I changed subject to cats and dogs instead.....hehehe.

Below, cats and dogs sunbathing together!!










Intrigued, I made a google search using key words 'cats in istanbul' and found these stories

above: i posed with three pretty furry beings, but no cats happened to be there!!

1. HERE :
I copied the following intro from the blog.

"The British explorer, archeologist Charles Fellows encountered nomadic Turkish tribes on many occasions while traveling in southwest Turkey in 1840. In his book Travels and Researches in Asia Minor, Fellows described a typical procession of them:

An old man, and generally his wife, head the clan, which consists of several generations...His son, the master of the flocks, follows with his wife; she is often seated on a horse, with a child in her arms...Asses are allotted to the younger children, who are placed amidst the domestic stores, and never without a pet cat in their arms...

The association of the Anatolians with cats probably goes back many centuries and is still an ongoing affair as revealed by the abundance of cats in Turkey."

2. HERE

"Tesekkur ederim" !!

An eye catching view of what appear to be sea food restaurants at the ferry terminal!
Below is the ferry terminal where we went looking for ferry to our dinner destination!

The taxi dropped us at a junction with this 'Budak' kebab restaurant. A landmark we used to described our location to our host who kindly came to greet us there!

The picture above was captured at ATM machines at the ferry terminal. Four customers and four banks ~ noticed that none was at the international brand. Is this patriotism on display?

Haziq fell in love with Pakide ~ The cat of the house.

Istanbul. 6th December.

"Can we go again to their house ?" Luqman asked LiL as soon as we arrived at our hotel after coming back from dinner.
"Why....?" Lil asked spontaneously. My instinct told me something......
"I found a new friend and I like her!" Luqman answered. My instinct was correct! He has found a new friend in Nur Hatice!

The dinner we had was not an ordinary dinner in an ordinary cafe in Istanbul. It was not even a high end fine dining restaurant to be found lining the alleys off the Taksim mainstreet. We were guests in a very special home belonging to a very special family friend ~ Simah.

Simah is married to a local Turk, Dr. Halil Zaim, from a respectable family in Istanbul. Please read HERE. Their romance went back to the student days in UIA and from what I can see their romance was still very much in the air filling every space in their welcoming and cosy home on the fifth floor of an apartment tower which took after the husband's family name! Indeed, upon enquiry, the family owned a significant number of shares in the two block towers.

Simah speaks Turkish Language like a local. I simply love listening to the effortless flow of Turkish words everytime I heard her in conversation with her lovely daughter and adorable son. Her husband acknowledged that she is indeed gifted with laguage skills. Perhaps it is the same talent which has taken her through to succeed with a degree in English language ~ being a graduate of TESL. She writes regularly in the local English newspaper. Her published articles can be found HERE.

Simah carries her Melayuness to Turkey. She is a wonderful host and her friendliness belies the fact she has not met members of my family and I have met with her and her family only once before. I felt her warmth even before we left for Istanbul ~ with her invitations and welcoming messages. When we finally wanted to find our way to her home, she was extra helpful with her advise and directional tips. The taxi wanted to charge us Euro 150 for a round trip, but we followed Simah's advise and took the ferry instead. Not only we spent much less on fares, we also enjoyed the ferry ride and arrived in half the time it would have taken to crawl through the traffic jam crossing the bridge from the European side to the Asian side.

Her husband, Dr. Halil came down to meet us. When he extended his hands for a welcoming handshake, I felt like he was also extending his warm heart of hospitality. Everyone of us felt at home ~ away from home~!

When we were seated in their living room, we briefly introduced ourselves. Soon after, we were invited to the dining table which was fully covered with dishes of home cooked food of all kinds.

I could not remember all the names of the foods but I do remember how delicious they were~!The starters!

The host!
The Desert!
The desert admirers!

The starters were amazing, we nearly filled ourselves with them. Then for the main course, we were served with their family signature dish normally prepared for Eid. It was delicious!
Just as we were saying Syukur and Thanking her and her family for treating us to a wonderful dinner, she brought out the desert! Walala, what a desert it was ~~ A combination of warm dark chocolate cake, with chocolate syrup melting over and topped with smooth vanilla flavoured ice-cream with cutlets of banana decoratively placed! Luqman had his desert with his new found friend, Simah's daughter.

We bid farewell to Simah and her family that night. We couldn't thank them enough ~ no words could ever do justice to what we wanted to say. But the English language taught me to say, "Thank You!" whenever we want to express gratitude and I hope our host who graduated with TESL degree could see beyond the words and know that those words come from our hearts!

"To Simah, Dr. Halil and your lovely daughter Nur Hatice and Adorable son, Sabahaddin! ~ Tesekkur ederim!!"All of us ~ together! I stood behind Haziq to hide my filled tummy. hehehe

Our hosts, husband and wife in red ~ sehati sejiwa tentunya *and both have the sweetest of smiles*

Simah's blog, HERE.
Blogging introduced us as bloggers, and transformed us into friends. Amazing ~ isn't it?!!