Turkey Exploration : 2nd day

insyaAllah, on the second day of my trip, we've been to the second capital of the ottoman state long ago that is Bursa, located on northwest Anatolia , Asia or Marmara region. it is now the fourth biggest city in turkey. the journey there wasn't so long, it just took about 2 hours to arrived by bus and a ferry ride. after breakfast, we've start our journey by bus along the Marmara sea and passing the Bosphorus bridge that connect between the 2 region, Europe & Asia . it was the 13th longest suspension bridge span in the world but in the past, it was the forth.

Bosphorus bridge

 On the journey, there was many building and mosque along the highway but just one picture taken because im very sleepy from yesterday's expedition.








Then we took a ferry ride. why? because it is more time saving compared to riding the bus all day that certainly make us more exhausted and tired. the ferry is just nice and a cafe present up on a dock, but if you spent your time on the outside, its kind of freezing because its winter plus with some cold breeze, you need to wear some gloves instead of your jumper and winter coat. the seagull are accompanied us through the strait while waiting to be feed with some bread from the tourist.

 after about more or less 1 hour on the ferry, we continue our journey on the bus again. some beautiful scenery along the way with green forest on our left & right, something that remind me of our God that creates all of this in only 6 days, Allah the greatest, like He says in the holy Quran :

village above the clouds

 " It is Allah Who has created the heavens and the earth, and all between them, in six Days, and is firmly established on the Throne (of Authority): ye have none, besides Him, to protect or intercede (for you): will ye not then receive admonition?"

( as-Sajda : 4)

  alhamdulillah, arrived at last. the first thing we seek was the place to ski, frankly speaking, all of us was very excited trying to play ski, well, this is the first time ever for us, the first experience since there weren't any snow in our homeland. after preparing with the equipment, mentally n physically ready, we went to the hill & start skiing, with full of confidence and  no-knowledge about skiing, most of us ended in...disaster..hahaha..
what a mess..but, with full of spirit & without feeling giving up, we try again & again. some of us, succeeded, but still need more to be improve & learn.

semangat lebih :p

short break after having several failure

equipment bunker

 well, as a Muslims, responsible as a servant to God must & should be done on time, we stop to pray in uludag mosque for zohr and asr.

holding the ice with bare hand.

 next, when the night fall, after we've made our night maghrib n isya prayer in ulu camii ('c' pronounced as 'j'), the biggest mosque in Bursa.in the middle of the mosque, there were a cute fountain for ablution. then, we have a little feast in the city, they said that there were special kebab called bursa kebab that serve with kebab meat above the bread and spiced with some sauce above all of them, it was so delicious, and we visited the long market named okcular carsisi. actually, it is a market to produce weapon for the army in the early years of the ottoman empire as it was one of their capital. these market produce weapon like arrow, sword, n many more. as the time travel, rifle, guns, gunpowder are produced there , but nowadays, these market sell ready-made item such as cloth, shoes, and the most important is that, they also sell quality silk-made cloth with a low price.

the long market

the most delicious n saving budget
 at kofteci yusuf  restaurant

bursa kebab

Ulu Camii 

and, the final for the day, we stop for our dinner in Kofteci Yusuf restaurant in the middle of the city. this restaurant gave us bread n sauce plus either coffee or tea for free but the other..sorry..not all are free..hehe. after being full n sleepy, we start our journey to other historical place called Pamukkale.

well, it seems that we just spent only one day in bursa, so, there aren't many places that can be visited throughout in that very short time. but it was worth it. alhamdulillah.

Turkey Exploration : 1st day

alhamdulillah, a new holiday after a period of brain torture , haha

well, this is some of my travelogue to turkey past week, its kind of enjoyment to get a trip to the last Islamic empire,the ottoman empire that have numerous n ancient building that still strong until today although most of them have been stood there for more than five century. It is a sad thing to see that the empire now are only a history in our books.

on the first day, we've went to the magnificent sultan Ahmed mosque (Turkish : Sultan Ahmet Camii ; they pronounced 'C' as 'J' ) or in present its famous name was blue mosque. This mosque that been build by the ottoman architect, the pupil of the famous mimar sinan, Mehmed Agha,
Well, this blue mosque got its name from the blue iznik tile at the dome of the mosque that can be seen on the photos below

one of the minaret from the courtyard in the blue mosque

the internal of the dome

from the side view

       

           from the garden,
           see those dome that support one another

After that, we've went to the second attraction on Istanbul that is the museum of Hagia Sophia or Aya Sophia, the citadel of the Constantinople ( the name before Istanbul ), this was once a big church or citadel from the Byzantium empire. This citadel was build as a sign of strength of the Christian empire long ago. All of the brick are specially imported from Rhodes island ( with special seal on every brick ) only to build this citadel. Then, it turned into mosque or masjid after the city is captured by the 4th caliphate of the ottoman at that time, Sultan Muhammad II Al-Fateh or so called Muhammad II the conqueror. He captured the city after and bring peace, in respond to the call of prophet Muhammad 1400 years ago.

"Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will he be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!"

 After the last caliph have been stripped for the face of the earth, the mosque is being turn into a museum form time to time by Mustafa Kamal Attartuk. Well, the 'museum' was tremendous from the outside, but if you analyse and have a closer look on some of the creation from the inside, there were some flaws inside them that happened to be the repair process of the old time because the dome has been collapsed several times before, but still, it's an awesome experience to be in there.

     

Hagia Sophia, one of the biggest attraction in Istanbul

the seal on one of the brick
that been import from Rhodes island

the masts that are tilted slightly
to support the biggest dome above 

the third places n the last for the day is the Topkapi palace, the palace where the sultan n his family lived, some ceremony conducted there, n there was a room for every one to see the sultan and talked about they're problem. yes, they're problem. not the sultan's problem. The Topkapi compartment was so huge that it takes about 3 hours, maybe more, for us to see whats inside it. Plus, inside them, there were some of the royal items such as the emperor cloth, the tributes given to the ottoman empire from other empires, n many more. There were also places to sightseeing the strait of Bosphorus from there as the place was so near to the sea.

the place where people come n complain
about they're problem

a beautiful scenery of Bosphorus strait
 from here

                                   

the place where the sultan break their fast,
with the scenery of the strait of Bosphorus.

in front of the palace gate

In a nutshell, after the first day of my journey, I was very excited to know all about the magnificent & fantastic building & development done at the time of the caliphate. so many things need to be discover, so many things need to be learn about this last Islamic empire, about its architecture, culture, & many more. Furthermore, to be here, to see it for yourself, it was a great opportunity that are no to be missed by me especially.