boketto with ro

Project Tag: architecture

Istanbul, Turkey – 2019 – Day 10-11

02/22/19

Our final full day in Istanbul. Woke up, tried to see if we could watch the sunrise from our rooftop – it was cloudy. We had breakfast before walking back over to Arasta Bazaar to revisit Jennifer’s Hamam to purchase a towel for a friend.

We then went to Topkapi Palace Museum – 60TL – $14.82CAD. Topkapi Palace use to served as the main residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman Sultans. Topkapi means Cannon Gate. Over the years, Topkapi was left behind by the Ottoman sultans and moved to Dolmabahçe Palace as the sultans of that period liked being on the Bosphorus side. The Harem is apparently a not to miss but we didn’t purchase the additional ticket to see it. My favourite part of this palace was the Third Courtyard – The Audience Chamber. The different types of marble pattern and colours made this place super special and hands down my favourite. ALSO NOTE – there are many rooms where photography is NOT ALLOWED. I believe Dolmabahçe Palace is also a place with many rooms where photography is not allowed.

Amanda had heard of a particular leather goods store that she wanted to take a look at for a potential leather jacket purchase. We arrived at the mall to find out that the store no longer existed. From that location, we decided to walk 30 minutes to our next destination – Balat / Fener Neighbourhood. Didn’t realize that the walk would be on an incline. It was still fun and interesting to walk to this destination. Balat was traditionally the Jewish part of Istanbul on the western bank of the Golden Horn. The Fener neighbourhood beside was traditionally of Greek inhabitants.

We had lunch at Cooklife Balat which is inspired by Kinfolk and has their own magazine – Cooklife. I ordered the Acai bowl and a Pimento Ginger beer (40TL). The cafe is super cute and relaxed feel. The Balat & Fener neighbourhood is full of history and falls under the UNESCO heritage sites. The homes are still quite colourful and distressed looking with the slanted streets of cobblestone adding so much character. Nowadays, you can find a resurgence of young people opening cafes in this area.

After taking a bunch of photos and just wandering the streets, we took the bus back towards the Grand Bazaar with a slight detour courtesy of the bus we took. We ended up across the bridge to Karakoy but then hopped on the tram with the last bit of money we had on our Istanbulkart’s.

We ended up back at the Grand Bazaar to get our last minute souvenirs. Amanda got a leather jacket from Tyfoon at Best, a scarf and finally we grabbed some loose tea (Natural apple, pomegranate and ottoman teas) before walking home. The store owners constantly are trying to convince you to come into their store. They always ask “where are you from”. Today was slightly different in terms of where we were from. I got American – Hawaiian and even Cherokee.

We did a quick look through at the grocery store to pick up a few snacks and then stopped by a restaurant on the way back to our hotel for dinner. We had only 40TL left so we ordered our dinner based on the price and left with no more lira. We ate kofte (meatballs), chicken doner & pilav.

We spent the rest of the night relaxing and slowly packing.

02/23/19

Our airport van transfer came to pick us up at 230AM – 6 euros. If we were to order a taxi, it would cost relatively the same amount in Lira. Our flight was at 655AM and we had tons of time to check in.

Our flight was pretty smooth to Kyiv, Ukraine. 1 hour time difference. 3 hours stopover then a 10 hour flight back to Toronto. It was a little rough but not too bad.

Our whole trip however, the timing was absolutely perfect as there was no rainfall during our trip (which we prepared for). The weather was pretty good all around and even got up to 16C in Pamukkale. The day we left was the only day it rained. When we landed in Toronto, we had heard from our new friend Danee that it had snowed in Istanbul.

Amanda and myself realized that we spent at most 15 minutes apart each day – when we were in the washroom (but proximity wise, we were always in the distance of hotspot). We created our own “spaces” by being beside each other but doing our own thing whether it was on our own phones and chatting with others. We didn’t murder each other. I guess we have compatible personalities and can consider each other good friends.

I have to say that 9-10 days was definitely not long enough to take in all that Turkey has to offer so I guess I will be back one day. The land of beautiful people with amazing symmetrical facial structures and the land of amazing food.

Panama City – Panama – 2016 – Day 10

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Woke up once to check the time but otherwise, a good sleep.

Marlon and Eduardo were our tour guides today as we booked with Traviator city tour to take us to the Panama Canal – Miraflores Centre, Panama Bay and around the old Quarters of Casco Viejo.

Here are some facts about Panama:

-4 million people

-10-13 years ago Balboa / financial district was a landfill

-The financial district has over 80 different banks

-They use the Panama Canal for tourism and transportation.

-USA paid 40 million dollars to build the canal because the mosquitoes eliminated the French with yellow fever and other illness. French wanted to build a flat channel but USA wanted to build using a system of logs

-USA made 3 artificial lakes to maintain the water during rainy season

1904 1914 the USA built the canal (French were the first to try) USA used it to transfer supplies from West coast to East Coast as there were too many difficulties with bandits and other circumstances.

-No army but now only national police. If they need military support, they call the USA.

-Panama Canal created is own energy

-Workers were from all over including Caribbean side, China, Greece, Italy, French etc. They wanted workers who were acclimatized to the weather.

-Legal tender was USD as the workers came from all over the world and it was easier to use USD rather than Balboa. Now only coins are Balboa and USD is 1 for 1.

-The Panama canal was completed in June 2016 and it took 10 years to build it to allow access for bigger ships.

-There are 3 canals from Gatun to Miraflores. The larger Panama canal takes about 10-20 ships a day only during the day. The smaller one does 80 a day and runs 24 hours.

-Clayton base was for the USA military but once they left and since Panama doesn’t have an army, they turned it into an area for education and renamed it the City of knowledge.

-Until 1999, any citizens born in the USA confinement base area, were USA citizens and not Panamanian citizens.

 

They drove us over to Panama Bay passing by buildings like the Biomuseo building built with Frank Gehry design as well as the giant Panama sign. This whole area was manmade include the island we took a break on but it did give us stunning views of the cityline. The weather turned from hot and sunny to a treacherous rain storm and the view of the city looked completely different.

We drove over to the old quarters of Casco Viejo. You can definitely see the French and Spanish style within these quarters. We drove through and then were driven to what Eduardo calls the best view of the cityline at Quinto Centenario – Cinta Costera. From there, we decided we wanted to venture the old quarters by foot so we hopped out of the van and walked around. Eduardo told us that when we grab a taxi that it should be about $5USD to get us back to our hotel. The rain had let up a little so walking the streets was nicer. After arriving back to our hotel via taxi, we ordered an Uber and headed to the airport ($26USD). Then off we flew back home to end out 10 day adventure.