15D12N Turkiye/Abu Dhabi - Day 9

02/01/2024

This was our shuttle transport, it went round and round Goreme for an hour to pick up people before heading to Nevsehir Airport.

The nice vehicle with 16pax capacity.

Hot air balloons could be seen along the way.

It was as if they were saying goodbye to us.  I couldn't bare to leave but on the other had I couldn't wait to get back to Istanbul for more of it.  It's so beautiful...

Crazy beautiful...  but behind my head, I was making plans on what to do if we missed our flight.  We were still on the road one hour before the flight sia.

Last photo of beloved Cappadocia, goodbye T__T

We reached Nevsehir Airport 50mins before flight time, it was very small with only 2 boarding gates lolxx... Once passed the security check, there was a super duper cute stall selling random "emergency" items like water, battery, tissue whatever... and besides was the toilet.  All within 10+sqm.

Gotten our boarding pass 30mins before flight time lolxx...

The gate opened only 5mins prior flight time, it was amazing that everyone boarded without delay.  Not sure how did the crowd cleared so fast lolxx...

I normally hated ground boarding, but this time I felt great to see the up close of our little plane.

I like my beige/black outfit, heehee... pants from Uniqlo, top from HLA (men's), small backpack FILA, shoes Diana+ (Japan).

Had the first row at the exit without paying extra.

 Sitting besides me were locals with sausage lips, anchored noses, beauty standards different from Asians lolxx...

1.5hrs flight with beverage and hot sandwich.

Cheese and ham was delicious, simply perfect with milk!  Wondering how's business class with Turkish Airlines.

We saw how the plane's door opened, and we were the first to get out, felt so shiok as if we had business class.

We were back to Istanbul.

Shouldn't this decor be at Cappadocia's airports instead?

Looking at the metro map while waiting for our private transport.

Tired after the morning flight.

The weather was so comfortable.

Along the way with amazing view of the Bosphorus.  Istanbul why are you so beautiful...

Really sibei swee in reality.

Valens Aqueduct was a historical structure across the road, stretched over 920m.  To my ultimate surprise it was a structure carrying water supply build in the 4th century!!!  Sadly I only found out after I came back T__T|||

Passed this amazing structure a few times but never paid much attention.

Back to Saratoga Boutique Hotel, they had kept our luggage for us.  We paid S$237.60 for 3 nights, was given another room which felt much better than previously.

I love Cappadocia but a clean bed without dust was life saving.  Slept in for dear life.

After a good sleep was time to explore Istanbul again.  Found these colorful houses near our hotel, so I guessed we could skip Balat.

Ferrari police car in Sultanahmet Park, everybody went crazy.

Already lost count to how many times we were in Eminonu, we should had our hotel here instead of Sultanahmet.

Going to from Europe to Asia lolxx... taking a ferry to Kadikoy.  Ferry tix was about S$1 only.

Nice view with Galata Tower at the far end.  It was a gloomy day, it rained but didn't dampen my mood, cos it' still freaking beautiful here.

Sea gulls chasing our ferry cos some passengers brought bread to feed them.

In Singapore feeding is illegal, here feed until you happy.

Ferry aka best flying birds' park ever.

The interior of the ferry, nice and clean.

It was about 15mins ride and we were at Kadikoy.

Generally things were cheaper than the Europe side.

It was raining, forgotten to bring my brolly, had to get into random cafe.  It's selling mussel stuffed rice.

Whole mussel shell but less than half portion of mussel.  Rice was flavourful but wished they were serve warm instead of cold.

Love Cay like Milo.

We also had chicken kebab which never went wrong in Turkiye.

Bought this 100TL checked wool pants to wear at Abu Dhabi's winter, ended up... heehee...

Be it market or super market, the fruits and veg were flawless with bright colors.  Then look at what we have in Singapore?

Saw Turkish Airline's milk!  So I bought, I am a baby, heehee...

Desserts that looked too sweet.

Walked pass Mcdonald's.

No idea what's the crocodile about.

Found something attractive for dinner.

Kebab on the left, looked same but taste different from Singapore's.

Steam burger buns on the right.

As mentioned, food was cheaper in Asia side of Istanbul, a wet burger 60TL was around S$2.50 only.

Wet burgers were actually steam burger buns.

We bought a wet cheeseburger to try.

Yummy wrinkled warm buns.

After eating continued to walk walk.

Never knew pumpkins came in so many colors.

It was rainy but the vibe was awesome, just felt super happy to be in Turkiye.  It's safe and people here were generally friendly.  They became even friendlier (with a relieve look on the faces) when they found out we were from Singapore and not XXXXX.

Wet market still opened in the late noon.

Every time I looked at Turkish veg/fruits my heart awe.........

Seriously no filter, the colors were like this.

There were many types of olives but I wasn't a fan of it.

Pickles!

Turkish stall owners were very very, extremely neat, OCD also cannot fight.

Singapore is a clean city, but not half as neat.

Kadikoy had more dogs than cats.  And the dogs were big, every cafe/restaurant had at least one sleeping/resting inside.

This was nom-ing bones.

This wasn't Paris lolxx...

Not exactly hungry but just felt greedy.  Had super here.

Had small fishes with soft bones.

And an octopus leg.

We almost gave up due to the rain, but glad that we finally found the Kadikoy Bull!

We really couldn't leave this place without a snap pic of the bull lolxx...

Bull balls ya, we were a bit wet without brolly.

The tram didn't come.

It finally did when we were leaving.

This was Kadikoy ferry station, we were going to take a ferry back to Eminonu.

The ferry was quite empty at around 8pm.

Enjoyed the gorgeous night view.

The Bosphorus was beautiful in the day, charming at night.

After we alight, to my ultimate shock, the ferry didn't brought us to Eminonu, we ended up in Karakoy waaahaahaaa...

The moment we stepped out, the ferry station closed on us.

Congrats, so we had to walk back.  Luckily it was just a 15mins walk.

Yeni Cami Mosque it should be.  Super duper huge in real.

Walked back by crossing the bridge, the locals were fishing.

Instant relieve when we reached the Europe side.  Old man was freezing, so I took out my new pants and wrapped around his neck, not bad hor lolxx...

Back to our hotel area, didn't know what he bought.

The next day we went Taksim and Galata Tower, very touristy but not a bad experience.

Meanwhile I hope the flood in Dubai subside ASAP, hopefully by next month the airport would be able to operate as normal, I don't want deal with disruptions when we are there.