Traveling during the pandemic? It sounds crazy, but that’s what we did, despite the fact that there are many possibilities that we could get sick. Thankfully, everything went so smooth from making the plan until going back home. All we did was protect our selves by wearing masks, drink vitamin, tried to avoid the crowd if we can and the last was praying.
When we heard that Turkey was finally reopened for many countries except for American and Indonesian, we were really stressed. Originally we were going to reunite in April 2020, Jake was about to go to Bali, spend the holiday about a month, but due to Covid-19 spreading out and becoming a pandemic, almost all countries had closed their borders and we needed to wait again. When Turkey was reopened, of course we were so excited but there was a hoax that was spread out too. There was news that American, Indonesian and some other nationalities are banned from coming to Turkey! Gosh, we were crying and asking why the situation has to be so hard? Finally, after doing some research and asking around here and there, we knew that it was just a hoax! Yay! 😆 We didn’t really know what the situation was out there, so we decided to join the tour group from Indonesia and Jake was able to join the group in Istanbul airport. The cost from Indonesia was about $ 1,200/pax all included (accommodation for 7 nights (4 stars hotels), full board, transportation, flights, guide fee and PCR test) that is so affordable!
Since the only airport that was operating for International flight at the moment was Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Ayu needed to book a flight from Bali to Jakarta and meet the group at the departure gate in terminal 3. We had to prepare our tickets and keep our distance with everyone in the airport and they also checked our rapid test (blood test is required for domestic flight). The boarding time was at 9.30 pm and the flight took 12 hours to reach Istanbul with Turkish airlines. Meanwhile, Jake had already arrived after it took hours of flights from North Carolina to Amsterdam and finally landed in Istanbul the night before. He spent the night in a nearby hotel before he met with the group at 5 am in the morning.
The flight wasn’t so bad. After the tiring 12 hours, we finally had landed in Istanbul. Phew! The airport was new, big and clean and had just finished constructed in October 2018, so all you see are fresh and new stuff. Anyway, for Indonesian travelers, it’s better to have your rupiahs exchanged into USD/Euro and exchange it into Turkish lira when you arrive in Turkey rather than having rupiahs exchanged into Turkish lira there because the rupiahs rate is bad in Turkey. The money exchange counter can be found at the arrival gate after the immigration. It’s actually not that much different between exchanging your money in the airport or in the city. If you don’t like that idea, you could just get the money from ATM machines instead. Of course your credit card is usable in Turkey but sometimes you need to have cash to buy souvenirs or snacks in small shop, so it’s better to prepare in advance.
We finally reunited! After almost a year of waiting since Covid-19 announced as a global pandemic and made almost all countries close their borders, we met again! Can’t believe it’s finally happened. 🙂
Ok, so.. after some hugs and laughs with tears, we started our journey with the group by Bus (there were only 15 people including us, the guide, tour leader and the driver. It was a small group. The tour leader told me in a normal situation, the participants were more than 20 persons each batch. In the global pandemic, not everyone could afford it and some are still concerned about the health conditions, the unknown situation out there and many other reasons so there were not that many people who wanted to join.
The first place is Bursa City. From Istanbul airport to Bursa it took about 2 hours to get there. Bursa city was the first capital of Ottoman Empire.
Just before we arrived at Bursa, we had brunch in a nearby restaurant and then we visited a souvenir shop called Munira. They were selling a lot of stuff from honey, Turkish soap, praying matt, saffron and, of course, Turkish delight. The price was quite expensive compared to other souvenir shops in Istanbul but the quality of their products were good. The shopkeeper also gave us explanations of some products that were mainly about honey, saffron and Turkish delights.
The next stop was Grand Mosque Bursa, or in Turkish they call it Ulu Camii (which means great mosque). Grand mosque is the largest mosque in Bursa city. It was built in 1399 by the order of Sultan Beyazid I. It is well known for it’s decorative calligraphy and is even called a calligraphy museum.
Not too far from Grand Mosque there was Green Mosque, or Yesil Camii in Turkish. Green Mosque was recently named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is Ayu’s favorite spot. The mosque vibes here were so peaceful with the outside area looking so neat and the architecture of Green Mosque being as impressive as it was. It was commissioned in 1412 by Sultan Mehmed I Celebi. Next to the mosque there is mausoleum called Green Tomb where Sultan Mehmed I was buried.
Bursa was one of the cities that were traversed by the silk route, which was why there were some shops selling silk nearby. If you don’t wanna buy anything, we recommend taking some instagrammable pictures instead since it gave us some options for cute picture-taking spots 🙂
Once everyone gathered back together, we continued our trip to Izmir, which was also where we spent our first night in Turkey. So.. to get there we rode another 4 hours on the bus 😂 Yeah, we know, that was a bit tiring but we had a lot of fun together. We were so excited for our second day in Turkey to spend time to explore in the Ephesus Ancient City and Pamukkale, the Cotton Castle. 🙂
To be continued..
Wander and Explore 