15D12N Turkiye/Abu Dhabi - Day 4

28/12/2023

Comfortable weather.  We were leaving to Istanbul Airport.

This was the first airport we came across where you needed to pay for the trolley.  We were traveling light (already kept the rest of the luggage in Istanbul hotel), didn't need it.

The space was beautiful despite of how petty the airport was.  They gave only 1 hour of free wifi and you had to go through the hassle to register before getting access to it.  Really petty lolxx...

The check-in was a breeze, done in less than 10mins.  It's less than or around S$100 for this 1hr domestic flight.  I really didn't see any reason to go 8hrs by road.  It's honestly not expensive, so why does tour agencies put their customers on long road travel??

Plenty of neat looking Turkish Airlines counters.  Thousand and one ppl online commented that the crews were not helpful, rude sometimes, but so far (till the end of our trip), every crew in any sector were nice to us.  What happened to the others??  Lolxx...

Nothing was cheap in the airport.

Found economical cafe, we should had just sat here, but we walked further to another cafe nearer to the boarding gate.

Nothing much in the Food Court, mainly fast food.

Here for breakfast.

Damage: 365TL, the cheese pastry was nice.

No stomach space liao.

Turkiye is a Muslim country, they use Xmas decor as New Year decor.

Not bad, got travellator but didn't use it cos our boarding gate was right in front of us.

For once, our boarding gate was in front of the escalator we came up, didn't need to walk a mile.

I know doggies can board planes, but was our first time to have one going up the same plane together with us.  I was secretly hoping it sat beside me, but didn't know where it went after boarding.

Went in the bag and it was ready to board.

Hate ground boarding but took the opportunity to take a couple of nice close up pics of the plane with the sun rise.

Boeing 737.

Small plane with 3-3 configuration.

Nice plane actually, more than enough for domestic flights.

Safety video in cute cartoon.

Love aviation information screen.

Drinks and warm chicken sandwiched was served, it was very nice for a one hour flight, absolutely appreciate it.

The flight flew low throughout and I was very lucky to had a window seat to enjoy the view of beautiful Turkiye.

Landing!  I was very excited, heehee...

Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport, wheeeeeeeee......

I saw our luggage being rolled out (they dare not throw, I waved them hello and they waved back lolxx...).

We took a cab from the airport, our hotel was about 10mins drive away.

Big and pretty: Svalinn Hotel.

We stayed one night in this hotel, it was about S$175.  It was the most comfortable accommodation but hubby hated it cos the service was slow when he requested to check on the warmer which turned on automatically.  And that we were given a corner room and wifi was really bad.

This room was 45sqm very huge, heehee...

Very huge mirror besides the balcony, thank goodness it's not directly opposite the bed.

As I had mentioned earlier, Xmas tree was Turkiye's New Year decor.

They had a huge and cozy lobby.

Optimum Mall was about 10mins walk from our hotel.  We were going to take a bus to Konak Square.

We couldn't find the bus stop so we thought we could ask the information counter in the mall.

There wasn't any information counter, the mall was super pretty I almost didn't want to leave.  I couldn't believe it but at the end we took a cab, haiz...

Alright, this was it.  Konak Square with a re-build clock tower.

The original clock tower was build in 1901, destroyed by 2 earthquakes and in between the clock was stolen, took some time to hunt it back and it was restored only in 2019.

Lady selling pigeon food.

The clock tower wasn't too interesting to me, but the coast line was.

Never feed the pigeon and went to frighten them some more lolxx...

Cool weather allows nice flowers, Singapore leh, haiz...

Their local men all very good looking with deep set eyes and sharp nose...

Yup the coast line, the sea and sky blue like paint.  This cafe had the right spot and their tea was expensive, we kinda paid for the view.

Even the cat enjoyed the breeze and scenery.

It was difficult to leave this place, I could sit here another hour sia.

Awwww.......

We walked through Kemeraltı Bazaar to the Agora.  It was very very, extremely distracting.  Things were so much cheaper than Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

Başdurak Mosque 17th century.

We reached, only to realize that we were at the back side of the Agora, walked a big round to get to the main entrance, our poor legs...

There was a wall of autumn leaves, so I pretend it's Autumn ba...

By this time I was feeling too warm and had to take off my cardigan.

Finally got it!

Cut and paste information from google:

The Agora of Smyrna, alternatively known as the Agora of İzmir, is an ancient Roman agora located in Smyrna. Originally built by the Greeks in the 4th century BC, the agora was ruined by an earthquake in 178 AD. Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius ordered its reconstruction. Excavations started in 1933.

Old man was very excited initially, then the "fire" died in less than 15mins lolxx...

My love for historical sites is furious and never dies lolxx...

How they construct these arches?  How?

Super trust worthy self stick.

Every corner of Izmir was beautiful, amazing country.

The sky was blue and sun was warm.

By the way I saw partial blue sky in Singapore (during work).  It was nice at a glance, at one glance.  Then almost instantly I thought it better revert back to cloudy grey, cos it was so scotching hot that cooking could be done under the sky without a stove.

I think this was the mother of a few other kittens in the Agora.

Photo from the top.

Marble coffins and tombs???

Some very distinctive carvings.

Supposed to be very colorful but they left the mosaics raw.

Amazing artwork.

I have been feeling very down, looking at these photos doing this blog makes me happier.  I have a day surgery waiting for me and at the same time, my baby sis needs a more serious operation... suddenly something is not too right.. I will deal with it... anyways...

back to The Agora of Izmir.

Kittens pics, they were very tiny, too cute...

Back to Kemeraltı Bazaar.

Fruit juice without diluting with water.

Found dinner.

First set original price, second set 99TL.

The set consist of tea, soup with bread, main with salad + noodles + chicken.

Less than 300TL for a delicious meal for 2 of us.

We exited the bazaar and was back to Konak Square.  

Clock tower looked different at night.

Mini mosque build since 1745, I think can only house at the most 20pax at a time lolxx.. so cute.

We remembered there's a taxi stand, we found it and to our ultimate shock, it was closed.  You hear me right, the taxi stand was closed!  Where on earth will a taxi be closed??!!??  It was around 8pm, we were stuck.  My genius old man decided to walk back through the bazaar, to the main road where the Agora was.

My legs disowned me but for sure the main had plenty of taxi.  Back to the hotel in one tired piece lolxx...

The next day was a day tour to world famous historical site: EPHESUS.