Istanbul Day 3 : The Refugee

Here we come my third day in Istanbul,

Today i woke up late, at 11 am. So i grab my towel, had a quick bath, and then hit the road with my daypack and stuff.

The first thing to do is headed to Sirkeci district, its the center of electronic shop here in Istanbul, i wanted to buy some cheap camera as my camera was lost in Blue Mosque. There's a discount offered here, 160TL for Olympus VG110 12MP + 2GB SD card. I went there by walking along the tramline from Kabatas untill crossed the Bosphorus Bridge. There's a drizzle when i arrived at Eminonu (near New Mosque) so i took a shelter there and do my Dhuhur pray. When i finished my pray the rain is stopped, so i continue my journey. After purchased my new camera i walked along the tram line to Sultanahmet district. Today i planned to enter the Topkapi Palace.

The ticket was 25TL for the palace itself and 15TL for the Harem side. I only bought the palace ticket because i'm not interested with the Harem. The Harem is just a small side of the palace where princess and concubines lives. Inside the Topkapi Palace was a very wide and cozy park. Many big trees and some bench all over the park. I think we can spend a whole day in here. Also there's some small room that contains relic and many historic goods. This place is very beautiful, and very recommended for visit. You can take a picture inside the palace with bosphorus strait as its background.

After Topkapi Palace, i'm headed to the famous retaurant in Sultanahmet district, the place itself is called "Tahrir Sultanahmet Koftecisi". The special menu of this restaurant is it Kofte (Meatball) you can buy it for 12TL and you will get meatball, bread (you can ask for refill), and mineral water. The place is so famous that you need to wait in some 5 meters waiting line!!

After some meal i continue wandering around the Fatih Park beside blue mosque where there's some night market and a musical stage. Near the park itself there's some TV show for Ramadhan month that took place in the open stage of that area. Its about some Imam who give speech to Muslim on that area.

TV show in Fatih Park

In the night market, you can find almost everything! From the silverware, Turkish coffe, cloth, shadow puppet, etc.

Snack Booth

Silverware

Turkish Coffee (Kurukahveci) Booth

Shadow Puppet

Ice Cream Parlor

 After a pleasant walk at the market i'm headed to Sultanahmet Mosque to do Isya' pray. There's i met Abdullah, a refugee from Palestine. We met inside the mosque after Isya' pray. He told me about his life and his condition in Palestine. He came to Turkey to received some medical treatment because his chest were getting hit by bullets. He's a war victim. He showed me his scar, and with his trembling voice he told all of his story and how he hate war so much. I asked him what he'd gonna do after this, and he said he want to continue his Jihad. At that moment i feel very useless and very grateful at the same time. I feel useless because as a fellow Muslim i can't help him so much, i just can pray for his safety and wish the war would ended up soon. I also feel grateful because of the life that i had until now. Well, i can say that i was born and lived in the peaceful country and had not experienced difficult life because of war until now. I feel that i shouldn't complained so much about life, as there were others life whose more miserable than mine. Thanks GOD for all this gracious experience. I promised myself i wanna be a better person and contribute more to others.

" Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind."
- John F. Kennedy-