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[Roadtrip] WEMW : Istanbul, Turkey - Part 1
January 21, 2015
Wohoo, more posts about the trip will be coming soon :) I'll try to write few posts before get back preparing for final exam of next subject.
Teaser
Teheee. :D
When time was limited for us, we tried to get back to our target destination by walking along the road beside the sea. Fortunately, we found a couple who were heading to the same direction and actually at that time, we can easily see lots of tourist buses, vans and taxis heading the same way as us. :)
Tourist attractions spotted!
We walked along Arasta Bazaar to reach Blue Mosque. I will cover Blue Mosque later, yea.
One of interesting architecture is this;
The Milion Stone
I just knew that this stone used to be a starting point of all roads to reach Constantinople in Ancient Rome. And it was used to calculate distance from cities all around the world to Istanbul.
View from the Milion Stone. You can see distances from some cities on the signboards. :)
Not just that, there was a wooden floor (pelantar kayu?) with more cities and the distances. So, generally, distance from Istanbul to Kuala Lumpur is 11300 km
After walking for few more meters, we arrived Topkapi Palace! Alhamdulillah.
So far I remember, for previous post, we finally arrived Istanbul and slept soundly. Fantastic sleep! Haha.
Now, let's explore Istanbul!
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Teaser
Teheee. :D
We started our day in the afternoon (I guess, we were so tired back then. :p). After having 'breakfast', we planned to cover Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sophia for the first day. So, we walked out from the apartment then, suddenly we reached the sea. What? Why sea? Oh man, we were walking to the opposite direction from the center! T_T *facepalm*
Tourist attractions spotted!
We walked along Arasta Bazaar to reach Blue Mosque. I will cover Blue Mosque later, yea.
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| Arasta Bazaar - we can go shopping here, but there are more places to do so; we just skip pass it through :) |
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| Roadtrip buddies! <3 |
The first thing we should do that time was to change some money. How can we buy the tickets or food if we don't have Turkish Lira? haha. The currency was 1 Euro = 2.70 Lira. More better currency rate when you walk along the main straight road of Sultanahmet (along the tram).
My friend bought some Turkish Delight - to eat while we walk. They are very sweet to me. Phewww, but I can't resist them, they are tasty!
While walking to Topkapi Palace, there were so many interesting places to stop by and of course for taking few pictures of memories :D
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| Sweet Turkish delight! - picture credit to Maryam |
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| Baklava! - Special for people with sweet tooth. hehe. picture - credit to Maryam |
My friend bought some Turkish Delight - to eat while we walk. They are very sweet to me. Phewww, but I can't resist them, they are tasty!
Turkish Delight (like hard jelly of starch and sugar - with many flavours!)
Baklava (sweet pastry with many layers - filled with nuts, and sweetened by syrup/honey)
While walking to Topkapi Palace, there were so many interesting places to stop by and of course for taking few pictures of memories :D
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| We-fie with Turkish-tourists. Supposedly, we just asked a guy to take our picture, but, just realised he was in a group of this!. Loud group. Haha. :p |
One of interesting architecture is this;
The Milion Stone
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| The Milion Stone |
I just knew that this stone used to be a starting point of all roads to reach Constantinople in Ancient Rome. And it was used to calculate distance from cities all around the world to Istanbul.
View from the Milion Stone. You can see distances from some cities on the signboards. :)
Not just that, there was a wooden floor (pelantar kayu?) with more cities and the distances. So, generally, distance from Istanbul to Kuala Lumpur is 11300 km
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| Missing home. T_T |
After walking for few more meters, we arrived Topkapi Palace! Alhamdulillah.
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| Here we are! |
It is a really nice historical place, especially to learn and see the era of Ottoman Empire. With 30 Lira, I think you can cover basic areas of Topkapi and if you more money and time, please, buy the tickets for whole Topkapi. During winter, it is closed quite early, about 4.45 pm if I'm not mistaken. T_T
Refer this website for more details.
It is a very big place to walk in, so I suggest to spend a day / half a day here. And come early morning on weekdays, when it is not yet crowded. So, you can cover the whole exhibits and rooms. We didn't take the audio tour guide - it is quite expensive but we were mesmerized enough with what have been exhibited to us :).
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| Large Gate of Salutation (Babus Salam) |
This is Gate of Salutation known as Middle Gate; leads into the palace and the Second Courtyard. The tower looks more like - Byzantine style than Ottoman.You can enter Topkapi after buying tickets at the booth around here. :) Long queue of course!
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| The garden inside. |
Topkapi is full of Ottoman's architecture. There are large collections of stuffs used in that era. Like porcelains, jewelries, weapons, shields, armors, calligraphic manuscripts, treasures. What I can say, as time goes by, most of the items are more well decorated. :)
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| One of the exhibition room in Topkapi. |
Some exhibitions do not allow tourists to take pictures, maybe due to fragility of the items. Maybe. Or their exclusiveness. No worries, just enjoy all of them by your own eyes!
Since we only have few hours in Topkapi, we needed to make the tour memorable. The first building we went was enough to make me happy. What did I see? :D
This!
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| picture credit here |
The Sword of Fatih / Mehmed II / Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror! I'm sure you know who is he. A guy at the age of 21 who conquered Constantinople and brought an end to the Byzantine Empire. It was like battling against the strong empire that time!
I love all calligraphy on all swords - how it inspired them to go on battles with hearts remembering Allah. And this one quoted from Fatih's sword.
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| picture credit here |
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“Bismillahirrahmanirrahim (in the name of Allah, the most beneficient, the most merciful). Praise be to Allah Almighty who blessed religious faith with lustrous & lucid verses and sharp & shining swords. Salat and salam upon our noble Prophet Muhammad and his household who are attributed with the most exquisite, lucent words.
Bless and strengthen Mehmed II, son of Murad II, the poignant sword that is drawn in the name of jihad; the Sultan of ghazis and mujahideen that strive to glorif the holy men of Allah; may the necks of enemies of Shariat become the scabbard of his sword; shed your grace on the ink of his pen.
Son of Osman, son of Orhan, son of Murad, son of Beyazit, son of Mehmed; may Allah cleanse them with the heavenly waters (zulal) that streamed by the swords of ghazis and place the under the shadow of swords in heaven. Amen ya rabbelalemin (God of all universes).
Strong words; smile with tears.
Another corner of the palace, it has beautiful view of Bosphorus. Bosphorus is basically the strait that form the boundary between Europe and Asia which make the place we stand here as the 'European' side of Turkey :) It is a narrow strait, with metro and roads connecting both sides.
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| Behind there, the 'Asia' side of Turkey. |
After feeling wish-to come-again-but-satisfied with Topkapi, we went to Blue Mosque to perform prayers. :) Oh, have I mentioned, we can hear Adzan here all over Istanbul from the mosques. Alhamdulillah, the feeling was just peaceful. :) Smile smile smile!
InsyAllah, I'll continue soon in Part 2.
Assalamualaikum.
v Khaulah,
150120
[Something to Ponder] How Do Trees Survive Winter?
January 16, 2015
If we have the opportunity to observe the Earth in different seasons, the first thing we should say... Alhamdulillah. SubhanAllah, we need to assure ourselves that everything happened in this world is under a control. Of whom? Allah, the God. :)
He controls every activities of nature. I guess, most of us love to spend time with nature, right? Get surrounded by all trees, being alone or accompanied by friends in the middle of the forest, watch the sunset, waiting for sunrise, perform prayers in the jungle, explore the rivers and seas, enjoying the beautiful shape of clouds and their flow. :)
Beauty.
Self-relaxation.
Peace.
That's what we will feel right?
Filling the desire to get away from the hectic life in the city, dirty air full of development and industry. Get rid of that.
Happiness.
Well, Allah gives us the nature to treasure and learn through it.
So, let us learn something and be grateful of it. :)
Have you ever wonder how do trees survive in winter?
Have you ever realised why in winter, some trees do have leaves while some do not?
Have you ever think what are actually behind the gold, beautiful autumn leaves before winter?
If you are the same as me, have no idea about it, why not, spend few minutes watching this video :)
If you don't mind to share what come across your mind after watching it, please leave some comments below :D
I don't know why, I reflected myself by this video on what happened around us recently. Most incidents happened in our country, I keep track although only by social networks.
I just want to conclude that, if trees have be given guidelines and ability in its own way on how to survive in winter, so do us, the humans. We have the guidelines to live and survive in this world. Al-Quran & sunnah. :) And even, Allah lends us, humans to have ability to think before making decision. Why not we use it wisely and reminds ourselves on what is good and what is not?
And it is He who gives life and causes death, and His is the alternation of the night and the day. Then will you not reason?
Dan
Dia lah yang menghidupkan dan mematikan; dan Dia lah yang menentukan
pertukaran malam dan siang. Maka tidakkah kamu mahu berfikir?
- See more at: http://quran.islamicevents.sg/23/78/80#sthash.oNbqtw9N.dpufAnd it is He who gives life and causes death, and His is the alternation of the night and the day. Then will you not reason?
Dan Dia lah yang menghidupkan dan mematikan; dan Dia lah yang menentukan pertukaran malam dan siang. Maka tidakkah kamu mahu berfikir? (al-Mu'minun 23:80)
And it is He who gives life and causes death, and His is the alternation of the night and the day. Then will you not reason?
Dan
Dia lah yang menghidupkan dan mematikan; dan Dia lah yang menentukan
pertukaran malam dan siang. Maka tidakkah kamu mahu berfikir?
- See more at: http://quran.islamicevents.sg/23/78/80#sthash.oNbqtw9N.dpuf
I know and I admit, we tend to do something beyond our control. It will be like, " Ouch, what have I done? I don't want to do it at the first place. It was out of control."
It is normal, I guess? But, Allah gives us friends and family to remind each others. That's one of the reasons why we have them in our life. Right? :)
Please, don't get angry if we are reminded on something bad we did. Humans do sins, and Allah is always with us to listen to our stories (He always know it, just want us to share it with Him) He is here to receive our repentance too. :)
p/s - For the postcards winners who haven't give details, please do so yea
p/s/s - Have a final exam on Monday. remember me in your prayers :)
v Educational Center, Fakultni Nemocnice
150116
[Roadtrip] Where East Meets West - Part 5
January 14, 2015
Sofia-Istanbul
approximately 560km (6 hours - non stop driving)
ETA - 9pm Wednesday
As I mentioned in previous post, most places in Bulgaria are named with their alphabets which made the journey more difficult. With no coverage of car's GPS for Turkey, what we did was, try to get to Svilengrad (one of the nearest town to the border of Bulgaria and Turkey).
From Svilengrad, we need to continue driving to Kapitan (this is the town for entry into Turkey). I just knew both Bulgaria and Turkey are neighbours with Greece. Excuse my Geography. T_T
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| Glad to see the word Istanbul. :) Image - credit to my friend's Instagram :D |
Still in Bulgaria, if I'm not mistaken, while heading to Svilengrad, we nearly got ourselves into accidents. Twice. T_T It was nobody's fault actually. The weather was very bad. There was a sudden heavy snow, the road was icy (with melt snow) but still covered with fresh snow. Emm, I hope you can imagine.
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| Before the snow storm. Can still see previous cars' marks of tires. |
Walking / driving on fresh snow is not as bad as on old snow (when it becomes ice). People usually fall down when walk on slippery ice while fresh snow gives more grip.
The first incident was when a car in front of us suddenly brake and gave emergency light. So, my friend slowed down and gave emergency light too. While there was another car behind us, it looked like the driver also try to reduce the speed. But the car started to slide to the right and left. Fortunately he managed to stop the car without hitting the back of our car T_T
That was so close.
Another incident was, this time our car slide left and right; nearly fall from the road (the road is higher than sidewalk, at least half a meter) There was a tree too. Alhamdulillah, my friend didn't get panicked and she tried her best to stop the car. The car was not speeding before, but I think maybe because of a small hole on the road that cause the car to be imbalance after that.
That was also so close. Really.
Istighfar.
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| Assalamualaikum Turkey! |
We continued the journey until we arrived at the border! Alhamdulillah, we got closer to Istanbul.
But, the challenge didn't stop yet. T_T
I just read somewhere; the border between Bulgaria and Turkey has the largest road customs in Europe! Entry into Turkey was not as simple as we thought. We needed to pass at least 3 officers - passport control > car control > final booth.
Unfortunately, most of cars who pass through the customs that night was stranded there for almost 2 hours. Including us. They said, our problem was because we use rented car. I don't understand how that can be a problem. We already showed them the car's identity card, car's insurance, prove of car rental.
The memorable thing of what we did there was....
Car X-RAY!
I really cannot brain this. :O
X-ray was okay for us to follow. But, when they told us to remove most of our stuffs from the car, it felt like something heavy dropped on you. It was really cold outside with strong wind, that was really painful. Most of our bags were checked too.
All procedures went well. And they found nothing was wrong.
Hmmmm.
I don't really understand how tolls work in Turkey. They don't have vignette but they have these systems - HGS / OGS. HGS means H?zl? Ge?i? Sistemi (Fast Transit System) - in which you will have electronic toll-payment device on the car screen. We cannot pay the toll cash or by credit card at the toll booth. Difference between HGS and OGS is that for HGS, you can pass the booth with normal highway speed limit, but OGS you need to slow your car.
I hope, we didn't get any traffic fine. As we stopped at almost all petrol stations (RnR) looking for ways to pay for it, but they keep saying we can do so at next 10km. The same sentences was answered when we stop at the next RnR. Suddenly we realised we were already at the toll booth T__T What to do.... we just pass through it as the booths have no gates.
We arrived Istanbul after midnight.
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| Take this picture so that we don't get lost finding way home T_T It helped! There was actually another line between red and green - Kucuk Ayasofia. |
Another problem was when we do not know how to get to the hostel. Roads in Istanbul was so complicated for us, but finally we managed to arrive near Blue Mosque. But still, where can we find the hostel? There was misunderstanding with the hostel owner as we don't really know how to describe our location.
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| The narrow road to the hostel. |
The roads near the hostel were mostly one-way. And Turkish drivers really got on my nerves when they keep honking horns when we drive slowly. When we arrived at the hostel, it was already 3am. Since the area is not flat, we find problem too on how to park the car. We, the drivers strongly feel not good to park on a hilly, narrow road. The hand brake was not that strong. We can't imagine the next morning to see our car 'kissing' another car.
While two of us went to look for the hostel, the drivers decided to park somewhere far-but-not-that-far, on flat road. :) Unfortunately, we didn't know how to get back to the hostel T___T. The roaming rate in Turkey for our Czech phone numbers was really high. And we almost lost contact with each other at the time.
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| Where ever you go while travelling, make sure to bring your hostel/hotel/accomodation card. Even though you don't understand the map, local people can help you :) |
The place where we stay that night was not actually the one we booked online. Some misunderstandings happen but the person we deal with; offer us another place. Alhamdulillah. It was still nice, I think; actually it was better. But, it was big enough for us with 3 bedrooms of 2 beds in each rooms, a big living room and a kitchen. We were afraid if they charged us more. After discussing, alhamdulillah, we don't have to pay extra.
The price is 19 Euro per person per night. I guess, the price was okay as the place is located close to Ayasofea and Blue Mosque :)
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| One of the rooms :) |
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| The common area for all guests :) |
We had a very good sleep after 2 days sleeping in the car. :)
Walk around Istanbul on the next day. Excited. :D
Till then,
Assalamualaikum.
v Khaulah
150109
[Roadtrip] Where East Meets West - Part 4
January 13, 2015
The good thing in Sofia (in Bulgaria, it is spelled as София), was when we arrived there on the last day of 2014. Which means it was public holiday = no charge to park anywhere! At the beginning, we were so reluctant to park our car. So, we decided the two of us stay in the car, while the other two go anywhere to ask about the parking tickets.
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| It was freaking cold! |
Since it was not weekend, most people said we need to pay for it. It was hard too to find shops that sell the parking tickets. Most shops were still closed. Suddenly I saw few policemen (I guess, they were going to have breakfast). I tried to ask them and luckily one of them speak English. :D
He confirmed with us that it was public holiday and we can park anywhere we want (as long as it is parking zone). What I mean with 'anywhere' is that there are at least 2 zones of parking (green and blue) in which each has different price per hour. ;)
1 Euro = 2 Bulgarian lev (BGN)
We managed to park the car quite close to places we would like to go. :) Yeay.
The first place to go is Banya Bashi Mosque! :D
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| Sweet mosque - women side on the first floor. |
Early before (maybe many many many years ago), there were at least 70 mosques in Sofia but Banya Bashi Mosque is the only one that still functioning. It is very old (completed in 1576) and was built in the era of Uthmaniyyah (Ottoman). The opening hours, I guess during prayer times - as it was locked when we first come :) :)
Interesting fact about the mosque is that, it was built by Mimar Sinan.
Who is he?
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| Image - credit |
He is the famous Ottoman architect and civil engineer for Sultans in Turkey. He was responsible to build lots of mosques, bridges, palaces, hospitals and he was compared with Michelangelo who is famous for St. Basilica in Rome (basically famous in the west). Mimar Sinan also built the Blue Mosque of Istanbul!
Banya Ba?? Camii
Camii means mosque while Banya Bashi means many baths. Outside the mosque, we can see an area of natural thermal spas, actually the remnants of original hammam (Turkish Baths). We can see from walls, there is warm water coming out. Nowadays, people will bring large empty bottles to be filled with the warm water. And it is FREEEE! ^_^
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| Turkish Bath - that uncle, he called the monopod as selfie melfie. Whattt? Haha. So, I invited him to take picture together. |
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| The nutrients of water in Turkish Bath :) I can only understand that cations anions :p |
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| The market :) |
If you are travelling to Europe or specifically Central & Eastern Europe, try to bring Euro / USD money instead of Ringgit Malaysia. RM is not recognised here (as far as I know).
It was freaking cold with slippery pavements. I could not feel my fingers anymore, eventhough I wore the gloves! Ahaa, about the attire, make sure to wear clothes that are suitable for the winter. Boots (or maybe waterproof, strong grip sport shoes), gloves, scarfs, and coat (better with hoodies)
After preparing hot drinks from Turkish Bath, we decided to continue the journey to Istanbul. :)
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| See the speed meter. Slow and safe. :) The route was dangerous T_T |
Routes to Istanbul and within Istanbul were the most challenging among all. They challenge our driving skills and patience. Since our GPS didn't cover for Turkey (we knew it already), so, we need to depend on GPS on phone, Google maps, Waze and instinct.
Why instinct?
Because we didn't understand Bulgarian alphabets. T_T It was really hard to guess the signboards.
Some incidents happened.
Alhamdulillah, Allah saved us and guide us all the way :)
Till then,
Assalamualaikum.
v Khaulah,
150109
[Winners Announcement] Postcards Giveaway from Czech & Germany
January 12, 2015
Guys, we are ready to announce the winner of the giveaway!
Alhamdulillah, our first giveaway together has ended and I really want to say thank you to Aisya for helping and guiding me all the way. She has more experiences to share and I really appreciate Aisya's hardwork. Wee. :) Love you lah! The starting to plan for the collaboration was so random actually, alhamdulillah, we made it; together!
InsyAllah, winners are randomly picked. :D And now, 21 postcards from each of us; which means 42 in total are waiting to be sent to the winners!
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| Image - credit |
And the winners are.....
**drum-rolls!**
For the winners in the list above, kindly leave your details to email beatback91@gmail.com
3, 9, 13, 14, 15,
While, for the winners in the list above, kindly leave your details to email siti.aisya.ibrahim@gmail.com
Details needed are;-
Name:
Address:
Number of entry:
Blog URL:
InsyAllah, will try to get it done and sent them as soon as I get all the winners' details. I am not able to go to the post offices frequently. So, the lucky winners, make sure to give your details to us before 19th January 2015. :D
Congratulations to the winners and thank you everyone for the participation! :) May our steps to get to know each other be blessed, and may this friendship continues!
v Khaulah,
150112
First of all, I can't say how many parts will be for this roadtrip :) Hehe, feel free to read, hopefully this can inspire you to try travelling somewhere by car :) Just like when I shared few experiences with my parents, they even asked me if is it possible to travel by car when they come here. They are interested to apply for international license too! :D
Enough for introduction. Let's proceed! ;)
Bucharest-Sofia
approximately 390km, in 6 hours (non stop driving)
ETA - 7am Wednesday
Route to Sofia with its own challenge when half of it has only one road for each direction. So, we need to carefully cross another car, make sure, no cars from opposite direction. The road was really dark! Seriously, like I mentioned sometime before, we can just depend on our car's light, and of course play around with the high beam. I think, most of time I was using high beam. It was not a straight road, so, need to know how to balance your gear and brake along the hilly roads.
Phewww, I guess, I have improved my driving skills drastically from this road trip. Manual car is not a problem, anymore. Alhamdulillah.
Well, I can relate this one quote by Robert Ricciardelli I read before. It was like;
The road to success is NEVER a straight road, right? There are always loops of challenges, speed bumps of friends, red lights of enemies, caution lights like family, weather changes that can fog your vision - some may complicated your journey, but some may be a booster for you to go further :) Keep determined and have faith!
Since the view was most of times dark, I found it tiring to strain my eyes to keep my focus. Tried to open the playlist and sing along. Eat a lot, chew gums a lot, Drink a lot. But bad moment was when you need to go to the toilet in the middle of forest where petrol stations were not so many. And even, they were conserving lights too T_T
My urinary bladder, himnae! keep strong!
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| Image - credit |
The border of Romania and Bulgaria is Giurgiu (Romania side) and Ruse (Bulgaria side) where here, we need to use a bridge to cross Danube river that form mostly the border between Romania and Bulgaria. Still remember I said in previous part, Danube river in Budapest? Yeah this is its continuation :)
The bridge is called Giurgiu-Rousse Friendship Bridge. The age of the bridge is more than our Independence Day. Hoho. It was opened in 1954. Even though we need to pay (~ 6 Euro) to use the bridge, but it is really NOT in good condition!.There were holes everywhere, cracks along the road.
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| This was taken on our way back. |
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| See the bridge :p |
The customs was nice, they even had a conversation with us while getting our passports checked. Basically, customs will ask you where are you heading to (like the final destination). What are the reasons of your trip? Just answer; holidays :)
Yeah, he was wondering why we chose to travel in this cold weather, why not in summer? We just said that summer is the only opportunity to go home for a long holiday. He just nodded, showing face of understanding. "It must be hard for you. Okay, everything done! May you have good trip to Sofia and managed to catch the new year in Istanbul". Smile :)
But, Sofia is not that close to the border T__T
We need to drive for another 300km! Hahahaha.
Thats mean, Bucharest to the border was only 90km!
Alhamdulillah, there is highway to drive faster and safer (of course, not for whole 300km) :)
I stopped by at many petrol stations to take a 10 minutes nap. :) It helped!
In the middle of the journey, suddenly it was raining/snowing heavily. Fuh, luckily the road was not slippery and I can still maintained with 130km/h. Getting close to Sofia, about 150km, the roads pass through mountains (again), and it was really beautiful to watch lots of wooden houses, covered with snow. And there were I guess, at least 4 tunnels, each about 800 meters :)
Pardon me if I mentioned about the beauty of mountains a lot. T__T I'm so into nature, I can say :)
Pardon me if I mentioned about the beauty of mountains a lot. T__T I'm so into nature, I can say :)
We arrived at Sofia, Bulgaria; about 9am Wednesday. And as planned, we will walk around the city, maybe at least to 2 places of attractions :)
More stories? Want to know something about Sofia?
Till next post, bye!
Assalamualaikum.
v Khaulah,
150108
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