My Trip To Turkey

Can i just start off by saying that I love every single fact of Turkey ,especially Istanbul , from the grandiose , beautiful and majestic mosques to the gregarious people.  I would like to thank my mum, for recommending this place and of course giving me money to visit Turkey as she made a pact with me to do so.Culturally, Turkey is in numerous ways 'caught' between Europe and Asia.I can honestly say it was difficult for me to distinguish Turkey as an european or asian country. It is a predominantly Islamic country but it is a secular state.I liked the how they disallow religion to intervene in their government rullings , whereby economy , social and politics have nothing to do with religion.To Istanbul, Edirne, Adrianople have a slightly European 'feel' whereas Eastern Anatolia is completely different and quite similar to Asia.It was my first time to visit such a unique country so i was really excited.In Turkey , not many of them speak English but my tour guide was pro at it as he told us he had a beautiful british women to teach him english way back in the days,his english test results went down after she left him , poor Barish.I visited Turkey on late december , so surely it was freezing.If i am correct it was like about 2 degrees celcius and in the beginning i could not adapt to the cold weather.It wasnt actually that bad , it was icy cold because of the humidity.However ,as i was travelling to different parts of turkey the weather just started to get better and better.I am deeply in love with Turkish history.I learned tons about turkey like the ottomans empire , turkish tradition and culture , Islamic history and stories regarding world war 1 throughout the trip.I managed to see jewelleries owned by the Sultans last time not sure if its real stuff but it was really nice and beautiful anyway,i was a good boy i listened to them and didnt take a single picture in those rooms.I was priviledged to see how the Turks lived in remote areas and i was wondering how they can actually survive as they have not many shops nearby.Petrol Stations and roadside shops were all around the place but i could hardly see anybody.Isolated and far away stalls and restaurants without customers.I reckon that we should be grateful for the comfortable life that we have.Ocassionally in life we can have nothing that goes our way , and the downs would outnumber the ups , but it's essential for us not to give up and appreciate what we have , that's my point of view.They need tourist , people like us,quite frankly it was gratifying for being able to help their economy.The Turkish people are in general really nice and sincere to foreigners notwithstanding that they don't really speak English .They are very helpful and will do as much as possible to assist you.At first i thought Turkey would just be like other middle-eastern country but it was way beyond my expectation.I was touched and impressed by the warmth welcome provided by the Turks.I like the fact that national service is compulsory for turkish guys.If you're a turkish male and has not gone through the national service process , you might not be employed as you could be called back to national service out of the blue and that'll be really troublesome.So ideally you have to complete the whole process and if u wish to extand your service you might get promoted and have a higher ranking. The soldiers that i saw in the Artaturk Mausoleum in Ankara were really cool and tall,and what's more surprising , the guards with walkie-talkie inside the mausoleum were even taller , i always thought being 5'11 tall could make me tower everyone but i was wrong when i came here , but i am satisfied with my height as i already have an average height of an american male , i wouldnt want to be overly excessively tall , i would look awful.Turkish women and men are really beautiful but it seemed like they love to waste food.I love Mediterranean food but i eat the same thing everyday , my mum gave me the permission to try some raki and i loved it.Furthermore , the three interesting things I learned about Turks are that they have a habit of drinking raki after dinner , dont take coffee with their meals and treat turkish delights as their snack.They also put water bottles on their roofs to indicate their wish to get married.Turkish delight tastes really good.It's a famous turkish treat made of starch.Rose flavour is one of my favourites but it's too sweet so i'll refrain myself from eating too many of them and drinks lots of water to sort of balance it.Turkish people drink tea all the time , apple and pomegranate tea are the most popular ones among them i guess.Experienced snow in cappadocia , saw and fed a whole group of pigeons.The tour guide brought us to the top mountains and the underground city.It's a shame the tiny holes and pathways made me knock my head over and over again.It was entertaining and hilarious forcing the older generation to get pass these pathways first and lead our way.We threatened them and deliberately called them the 'young generation',they were struggling in a funny way.I was fascinated by how bold and creative these ancient people were , knowing the technology werent that good over the past few centuries.I was gonna try hot air balloning with a whole group of foreigners in Cappadocia but unfortunately i missed it.It was too foggy and misty in view of winter season.It was a painful decision to leave the place though.But i had to move on.One of the best highlights in Turkey are Blue Mosque , Topkapi Palace , Ephesus , Pergamon , Izmir , Troy and also some weird carbon monoxide limestone watery stuff in Pamukalle where we stayed in a thermal hotel nearby call Lycus River.I made a visit to Grand Bazaar,spice market and some shopping centers.It's true that they have roughly 4000 shops but they sell almost the same thing.Besides that , it was an excellent opportunity to see Asena and some belly dancing on my last night in Istanbul where i also enjoyed my dinner.Basically i travelled half of Turkey , a total of 2700 kilometers.I didnt manage to travel to the eastern part of Turkey because we had a paucity of time.My mum bought some turkish delights , some turkish lamp , spices , carpets , souvenirs and poetries in Turkey.We took a private boat on the last day of our trip and cruised in Istanbul ,went passed a nice bridge and i felt like i was in San Francisco.Also , i saw many beautiful sceneries , pigeons and boats along the way , it was a terrific end to my visit.Admittedly , I was totally upset that i didnt get to celebrate christmas in Turkey , considering that they dont celebrate Christmas at all.But they were really good to me , which is something i should be grateful for.The 10 days trip in Turkey was amazing and enriching , the historical buildings , muslim civilization and the stories behind it were simply unforgettable.I am in love with ottoman classical music.I will definitely miss this place.Hoscakal !!!