Tuesday, September 2, 2014

ISTANBUL 2014 - DAY 01 - BIG BUS ISTANBUL

Big Bus Istanbul. A good introduction to Istanbul, that's what it was to me. Like giving me the overview of the places of interests before we actually go on the actual visits.

Kami decided to just sit on the bus sampai bus tu buat one big round balik ke Taksim Square. If ikut time masa tu boleh siap satu bulatan tapi kalau nak singgah2 memang tak sempat. Hari Ahad, so expected traffic jam tak teruk. But first we need to get the brochure to see the map so that we can plan. Also must know how much. I heard it is a bit pricy [again bila convert to RM lah].

So lepas lunch kami pun approched the Big Bus which was parked kat Taksim Square tu. Saya perhatikan memang ramai pelancung2 di situ enquiring about the bus service.  

Kami dilayan oleh this Offcial Agent and once the penerangan is done and our queries answered, we told him that we are interested. We bought the ticket and were given the Big Bus Istanbul brochure. 

The brochure is very informative, easy to read and understand and more importantly it has a really nice map of the routes. Ada Red Routes and Blue Routes. We will be taking the Red Routes as only the Red Routes passes Taksim Square. Kalau nak ambik Blue Route, kena tukar bus di mana stops yang ada the Blue bus to go on the Blue Route. 



Map yg best! :)

Harga yg tak berapa best. 30 Euro [€] seorang. Gulp!

Tapi fikir2 balik kira ok la sebab with that price we have 24 hours to use the ticket which I plan to use again the next morning. Now go round masa afternoon, esok go masa pagi 1st trip when it'll be a bit cooler.   

And the exciting journey began. Front view of the open top bus. Awesome view of the city. 

Yang bestnya lagi about Istanbul is that it has banyak parks. Green and quite well kept too.
Ini Gezi Park. Pada tahun 2013, berlaku sebuah demonstrasi besar-besaran di sini untuk menentang cadangan Kerajaan membangunkan sebuah pusat membeli-belah di sini. 


Pelancung2 lain juga memilih untuk berada di bahagian terbuka bus.


Istanbul ni berbukit-bukit so ia memberi view panoramic yang sgt best. Nampak banggunan2 bertingkat2. 

Di Istanbul ada sangat banyak Masjid. Ada lebih kurang 3,000 masjid di sana. Saya suka Ottoman style mosques. 


Agaknya ada Istanbul tour by air ke? Wah tentu mahal!


Such wonderful mosque.

Shot2 ni di ambil dari atas Big Bus yg tengah bergerak. So bila nampak je kapal terbang ni nak lalu atas masjid, terus saya cepat2 tangkap gambar. Hahaha.. punya la excited kan...hihi...

Tetiba rasa cam berbaloi bayar 30 € tu :)

Itu adalah jambatan yg merentang the Golden Horn menyambung New and Old Istanbul. The historic Old Istanbul terletak di seberang sana jambatan in this photo.

Selagi boleh zoom, haaa... zoom je ketat2...hihi...


Jambatan yg modern looking tu is the 3rd and latest bridge built across the Golden Horn.

Seats paling depan bahagian terbuka bas ni beri pelancung view yg best!

One of the most popular hobby di kalangan locals di Istanbul ialah memancing. Sangat ramai yang memancing even di tengah2 panas.




Bagi saya yg baru pertama kali ke Istanbul pemandangan macam ni paling menarik. Entah berapa shots saya end up taking...hihi....

Nampak masjid, snap, snap dan snap! Hihi...
I mean how can I not. It just looked so magnificient! 


Banyak seagulls kat Istanbul ni.

New mosque.

Bas terus bergerak ke arah Sultanahmet. 

Jambatan Galata di Eminönü. 


Suasana di sini memang ramai orang. Ada stesyen teksi, bas dan train. 

Also ramai orang yang memancing. Sesak! How awesome, right! :)

Bawah Galata Bridge tu ada rows of restaurants. Perfect place to chill and just hang out. Cool and windy. 

Great place to pancing and meet friends :)






Awesome view. Posters tu sebesar banggunan!

Banyak juga activity boating....

... and lots of swimming too...





Blue Mosque di Dataran Sultanahmet.

Can't wait to go inside and take a few shots ;)




And this is Hagia Sophia yg selama ini saya cuma berpeluang lihat dalam internet sahaja. Tak sabar rasanya nak masuk dalam muzium tu. 

Barbies in gypsy wedding gowns di Dataran Sultanahmet. Imagine that! Hihihi.... 

Tram stop di Sultanahmet. Tram ni sgt panjang and seemed to be very efficient and reliable, which I later found out that it is all that. 




Memang berbukit-bukit Istanbul ni. In fact di Istanbul ni ader funicular bawah tanah. Funicular ni ialah seperti gerabak keretapi yg ditarik oleh cables to go up steep slopes. 

Saje saya muatkan foto ni to give the feel of being on the Big Bus :)



Sempat pulak saya ambik gambar burung ni. Kebetulan I am seated on the bus at exactly this angle where I can compose the bird on the wire against that old historic building. 

Stesyen Tram. Very modern and convenient for the locals. 



Ada banyak gerai2 macam ni. 

Tengah ada campaign pemilihan President di Turki masa tu. That's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Masa tu he is the Prime Minister and he wanted to be the President pulak. He said kalau dia jadi President, dia akan abolish the Prime Minister post. I think so la.






Menuju ke Bosphorus bridge untuk merentas dari Istanbul Eropah ke Istanbul Asia.

Tol Plaza di hujung Jambatan Bosphorus di sebelah Asia. 

Foto ini dan a few more below are views of the Istanbul Asia.




Belah Asia ni mostly adalah kawasan kediaman. 


Lepas pusing di Istanbul Asia, bas patah balik ke Istanbul Eropah. 

Views of Selat Bosphorus. 







Rasanya kalau saya tak naik Big Bus ni, tak dapat saya shot-shot cam ni kot. 












All in all, we felt it was money well spent. We had some great moments and the overview of Istanbul was exactly what we needed since it was our first time there. Juga elok saya share yg bus driver tu akan slow the bus down when near tourists' spots, which gave me and other tourists ample time to take photos. 

Jadi saya recommend kalau ada siapa2 yg nak ke Istanbul, cuba la naik Big Bus Istanbul :).

Bersambung....

Di bawah ni saya senaraikan kesemua entries Istanbul saya:
No photograph may be reproduced, downloaded, copied, stored, manipulated, or used whole or in part of a derivative work, without written permission from Syed Amran. All rights reserved.

1 comment:

  1. hahahhaaa..
    zoom ketat-ketat!!


    jap lagi datang balik..
    komen pendek-pendek dulu..
    (:

    ReplyDelete