Turkey - Cappadocia

Last year around October I traveled to Turkey for the first time. Yes, this is a long overdue post, but I'm still going to write it anyway because Cappadocia is just plainly awesome and if you like to travel, this is a definite must-go destination. We first flew to Istanbul, and then took another flight to Kayseri before a 2-hour car drive to our hotel.

Cappadocia is in the middle of Anatolian region in Turkey and, unlike any other places I've visited, Cappadocia has a truly unique landscape that it's not strange to think that this city had been terraformed by aliens. If Antoni Gaudi's works are the description of bizarre man-made beauty, this place is the description of bizarre nature awesomeness.

The photo below, by the way, is a city centre.

You can climb up and see what's inside, but the holes seemed inhabited and some of the holes are even filled with garbage. Nevertheless, the city centre is pretty active. There were merchants selling goods and souvenirs along the streets of the city centre. The prices were quite reasonable, and they had quite a good selection of items.

 

We stayed in a cave hotel called Cappadocia Cave Suites, and it was one of the coolest place I've ever stayed. The room is equipped with proper heaters and a TV, and there is a normal bed inside, so it's not like you're staying there as a caveman :)

We took a hot air balloon ride at dawn. We were told by another passenger of the hot air balloon that we were lucky because she had been waiting for two days because you can't ride the balloons in bad weather. So, if you plan to ride the hot air balloon, it may be better to reserve some extra days just in case the weather does not permit you to fly. It would be quite a waste of the trip if you miss the balloon ride.

We paid USD 150 to ride the balloon, but the price may vary from one company to the other. The one that we rode, Discovery Balloons, seemed to be in the middle range. The staff was very professional, and he brought us really close to the landscapes without crashing. He's been flying the balloon for years :)

The balloon ride took about 2 hours, and the view from the balloon was just splendid.

 

They kind of look like king oyster mushrooms, don't they?

(image courtesy of www.mushrooms.ca)

Later on, we saw more of these king oyster mushroom-looking stones from closer distance.

I also tried my first Turkish ice cream in Cappadocia. Well, I had Turkish ice cream somewhere not in Turkey before, but you can never tell if it's authentic unless you try it once at its origin, right?

It was really creamy and delicious. The ice cream was made of goat milk, and although I'm not a big fan of sweet stuffs, I don't mind getting another cone of this ice cream again. And by the way, it's amazing that they also have Japanese translations in many touristic places in Turkey. I guess what they say in Hetalia, a Japanese web comic strip about personification of countries around the world, is true about Turkey and Japan.

Oh, and we spotted some camels, too. But these guys were just there because they know many tourists would take a photo of the camels and then they will demand a payment from taking the pictures of the camel. Well, at the very least, these guys are not aggressive, so you can quietly take a picture and they wouldn't be chasing after you.

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Spain - Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

When I had my first offline meeting with this particular online friend whom I know from an internet forum back in April, I saw pictures of Sagrada Familia on my friend's cellphone and they made me very interested in traveling to Barcelona. Who would have thought that I would be in Barcelona so soon?

One thing for sure: I regretted not bringing a proper camera for this trip because I hate carrying heavy stuffs when I travel. What a terrible mistake.

You'd probably seen this scenery somewhere lurking on the Internet or Barcelona guide books and I am pretty sure that the pictures you found are much better than mine. Let me tell you this: no photos can encompass the atmosphere brilliantly created by Gaudi's touch.

When I entered Sagrada Familia, I knew that something was special about this place. It gives you the "Oh, God indeed lives in this place" kind of feeling. After all, Sagrada Familia's full name is Basilica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia, which is translated to the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family.

The queue to enter Sagrada Familia was long, and from what I looked up on the Internet, it seemed that the line is almost always long, even during weekdays. We were there on a Thursday and I think we waited for at least 40 minutes. Despite what people say about the losses of waiting for too long in the queue, I would highly encourage you to enter Sagrada Familia, especially if you know that you won't be visiting Barcelona for the time being. 

You can buy the ticket at the front of the line, just before you enter Sagrada Familia. As usual, they have discounts for students. Make sure to exploit this benefit if you're a student ;)

We bought the ticket for the elevator as well because we somewhat learned from our previous visits that there might be something very exciting at the highest place of Gaudi's works. They have specific timings for the elevator and we ended up having to spend about 1.5 hours on the ground floor. But that's actually not very long, because there are just too many things to admire on the ground floor.

There was a museum close to the Sagrada Familia souvenir shop that tells you how Gaudi acquire his inspirations: the nature. The field of architecture is not my forte, but I was just amazed by Gaudi's ability to transform a shape from nature into seemingly very complicated patterns and structures.

He studied leaves, trees, roots, and even crystals.

The level of details of his works are simply too amazing. As my friend said when I posted my experience about Palau Guell: "It's Gaudi, don't ask why, just appreciate".

I think that is the best advice for me at this moment. Any attempts to understand what's going on in Gaudi's mind when he designed and planned all this would probably result in overheating of brain functions.

I wanted to show more pictures of the views from the top of the tower of Sagrada Familia, but it seems that the pictures were not uploaded properly and I already deleted the pictures from my phone because it was too overloaded. Such a pity. But I managed to get this: 

After the elevator ride, you still have to climb hundreds of stairs, but I think it's really worth the effort. And apparently, there are two elevators that you can take. One requires you to climb down the stairs on the way out, and one allows you to take an elevator down. We had to take the stairs down and I think we had no choice. When we bought the ticket, the staff told us to take the elevator located at the back.

And try to come slightly earlier than the time indicated on your ticket because the elevator only takes about 5-6 people, and there are definitely more than 6 people allocated to the same time allocation. Well, unless you're not really in a rush to visit as many Barcelona attractions as you can.

The way down is a little bit narrow, and if you're claustrophobic... it's not really the best option. I'm not sure if you can opt to take the elevator down because when we were there, there was no such option.

And make sure not to get too dizzy from the spiral of staircase. We had a little bit of "traffic jam" because a kid kept stopping because he wanted to look outside every window he found. In the end, we had to skip him and his parents.

It's really a shame that I lost all the photos I took from the tower. But I guess Google will solve all the problems ;)

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Monaco - Le Casino, Jardin Japonais, & Palais du Prince

I will never mistake Poland and Monaco's flags: Poland has the vertically inverted Indonesian flag, and Monaco has... the exact same flag design as our flag. It led me to cheering for the wrong country during the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony.

This was my first trip ever to Monaco, and I was excited, especially to see Monte Carlo simply because that name appeared once (or maybe more than once) in stories of Uncle Scrooge (or in Indonesian version, Paman Gober) and Donald Duck. It's scarily amazing (or amazingly scary) how I can still remember a foreign name that has not been mentioned often enough to stay at the back of my mind. 

Monte Carlo, the most populous Quartier of Monaco, is famous for its casino and it's not just any casino; it's The Casino (Le Casino). 

Taking pictures with my smartphone was not the smartest thing I could do. If I could zoom in without making blurry pictures, I would zoom in at the parabolic metal structure in the middle of the little garden in front of the casino. When taken from the right angle, you could see the entire casino building in that structure, including the sky and the features surrounding it.

Unfortunately, taking pictures inside the casino is prohibited. Although the casino is not as large as other casinos I have visited (Las Vegas and Macau), the interior design was just absolutely stunning and grandiose. I did not play any games when I was inside the casino (although I'd normally try the roulette with minimum bets). I was sitting at the corner, gazing at the gorgeous dome of the casino.

When we went there during the weekdays, the casino was pretty empty. Perhaps you would find more people in the private rooms, but you'll have to pay extra to enter the private rooms. And I believe that the minimum bets in those rooms are higher than the ones outside.

We also explored Jardin Japonais de Monaco, or the Japanese Garden of Monaco. To be honest, this was my favourite place in Monaco. I'm not so much into casinos. And this garden just reminded me of my days in Tokyo last year. It was a serene garden that somehow exists harmoniously with man-made features of civilization. What's even better: there is no entrance fee :)

The journey to Palais du Prince (The Prince's Palace) was a little difficult to figure out since there was no clear sign on the road. You could see the palace from below, since it is located on a cliff. We had quite a difficult time trying to figure out the way, although eventually we managed to find our way up to the palace.

You have to climb up quite a flight of stairs up the hill, but there are plenty of spaces to rest since the steps are wide. It takes about 10-15 minutes to climb up at a moderate pace.

And again, I regretted not bringing my camera with me because it's annoying to bring a bulky camera (it's not even an SLR - it's a compact Sony camera) on a 7-day trip.

Oh well, photos can be ugly as long as your eyes enjoyed it when you were there, right?

Once again, no photos are allowed inside the palace (although I've seen quite a number of people sneakily taking pictures with their mobiles phones).

By the way, the view from the hilltop is worth the effort to hike.

We went down the alleys close to the palace after the short tour around the palace. You can buy nice postcards here, and if you're a fan of Movenpick ice cream, you can get one here, too :)

For dinner, I had a nice bowl of fish soup from the restaurant next to Le Casino.

And the Monaco beer was pretty refreshing. It's not very bitter and it's pretty smooth. I'm not an expert in beers, but everyone has a different preference and this is one of the beers I would love to drink casually.

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