It was 12.30 am. The same procedure was performed again at the Border Checkpoint . Disembarked with the luggage. going through the customs' checkpoint and then through the Immigration process. The Turkish Immigration Officer asked me why I had a Turkish Exit stamped cancelled and I told him that I was denied entry at the Iranian Border Checkpoint. He also asked me if Malaysians do need a visa to enter Greece and I told him that we did not need a Visa to enter the European Economic Countries (Shengen). He...
Around the Istanbul bazaar. Woke up early and of course looking forward for the served breakfast. Checked out of the hotel as I know that I would not be around for the check out time. Took a short walk to the Istanbul bazaar which was nearby and I found it CLOSED. I asked around and the locals told me that the bazaar closes on a Sunday. Oh.. in fact I did not know that today was a Sunday ...must be really enjoying myself then .... well I just looked and walked around at the stalls that was in close proxi...
My Console (Internet Access on the Bus to Istanbul) Riding Turkish buses are cool. There are drivers and stewards to serve you and consoles with movies, news, music and television services but on this bus ride I got an Internet connection on my console which in a way did keep me away from sleeping the whole journey from Ankara to Istanbul. The steward of each buses I took made sure that the passengers comfort for the trip is up to standard. Bus Steward The first time that I came across the City Of Is...
Anti Kabir Main Mausoleum Dropped off my laundry as I was about to leave the hotel. I am down to my last fresh shirt and undergarments at this stage of this trip. I asked Hassan how to spend a full day in Ankara to the maximum as my bus to Istanbul was at 11 p.m tonight. He said wherever I spend the day in Ankara, it is a must to visit the Anti Kabir (Memorial Tomb) which is the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the leader of the War of Independence and the First President of Turkey. It also holds the...
With Hassan the manager of the hotel before checking out. Being in Ankara was an opportune moment and not to be missed for me as we had not intended to visit the capital city. Why so? Because we went to all the capital cities of the countries that we visited during our trip. Not visiting Ankara seemed rather a loss to me. We checked out out of the hotel and bade farewell to the manager, Mr. Mustapha who was very helpful and always went out of his way to make our stay comfortable. Before we left, Mustapha...
Rest stop @ Toka. I have lost count of how many times I have been spending nights in a bus on this trip...yes another wake up call at a rest area. I think that I have missed a lot of them while I was dead to the world, asleep, while the bus was traveling on the highway. This time it was at a rest area before the town Tokat. A police officer that we met on the bus was kind enough to treat us with the traditional cup of "chai" (tea). I managed to find an apricot for breakfast that was in my small backpack ...
@ Dogubayazut Bus StationWoke up from a good night's sleep and prepared ourselves for our border crossing into Iran. Before we checked out of the hotel, all of us said a prayer for our journey to be a safe one. Amiin. Breakfast was just a few plums and apricots as we had to walk to the bus station where we could get a minivan to the Iranian border. We wanted to be early as we wanted to catch the bus from Bazargan in Iran to Maku where we could take the bus to Tabriz and then on to Shiraz which was our ne...
Still sleepy @ the rest area I was in dream land as soon as the bus left Trabzone and I woke up at one of the selected rest areas before the town of Kars. It was about 8 p.m in the morning and I just did manage to refresh myself at the rest area.The journey to Kars which is a town full of historical places nearby it took just over an hour. It was just a brief stop to off load passengers and also to pick up new ones. Locals trying to fit the goods in the trunk @ Kars Bus Station In front of Kars Bus ...
Our Skoda taxi After succumbing to a heavy breakfast Georgian style, we checked out of our hotel and caught a taxi (a vintage Skoda) to the bus station where we arrived 2 days ago. Our destination was Igdir, a small Turkish border town in close proximity with the Iranian border. The plan was to spend a night in Igdir and then cross over to Iran and take a bus to Shiraz from the town of Tabriz. According to the internet there would be no problem at all for us...clean sailing thru...A simple plan which tur...
I had one of the best breakfast on this trip this morning ahem at a boutique hotel of course. Took a walk to the Sultan Ahmet Square and sat down on one of the benches there. I thought of how to spend a full day in Istanbul as my bus to Athens would only be at 5 pm tomorrow evening. .There were a few of empty Hop On Hop Off buses in front of me and it took a jiffy for me to decide how to spend the whole day exploring Istanbul or part of it . I am going to be the typical tourist for today.I was the first ...
