A Star from Mosul

Mersin - Ankara - Istanbul - Bursa - Pamukkale - Antalya - Cappadocia

First note that we were 4 buses, I'm talking especially about our bus, that was the most unlucky but usually when it got broken another bus had to stay with us.

2 Days in Mersin:
They took us to Taksim, a 5 star hotel.. The rooms were very nice and comfortable. We had many shops surrounding us but we never got past the first three because we always had a bus to wait for.
Why they chose a crappy mall and an old amusement park to be our only destinations in Mersin, nobody knows.. I can proudly say that the amusement in Duhok - Iraq is much better.
I don't like amusement parks at all but it was fun with all the girls in our group, and we only had an hour and a half there so it didn't feel very boring.

1 Day in Ankara: We arrived at the afternoon, went directly to the zoo where we found that it doesn't open on Friday.. then we went to Ankara tower and took a look at the city at night.
The next day we went to the zoo, spent about three hours there and that was that, we left Ankara at noon.

4 Days in Istanbul: The first day was spent on the road (an AMAZING road), we arrived at sunset but lost the way to the hotel and checked in at night. In the remaining three days we made a sea trip in Marmara sea, that was amazing, visited the Grand Bazaar (Kapali Çarsi, or Covered Market), visited one of the Prince's islands (there I rode a bicycle with dad leading!), visited Taksim bazaar.. Taking the tram was an amusing thing, and we got lost so many times because we weren't sure which one to take and where to stop. We also visited Sultan Ahmed mosque, Aya Sofia museum (but we didn't enter the latter), and the Topkapi palace.

1 Day in Bursa: We went all the way up Uludag mountain at night.. it was very dark, the road was not lighted and we had no idea how much higher we were going. The next day we went down the mountain with cable cars and headed towards the beautiful Yalawa bathing area where we spent around an hour only!

2 Days in Pamukkale:It took us a whole day to get to Pamukkale, the bus broke on the road and a new smaller bus came after about 6 hours of waiting in an isolate area (6PM to 6AM). The rest of the road was very tiring, most of the men had to stand up or sit at the floor of another bus because ours was too small, ours was too crowded that some of the women had to sit on the floor as well. We arrived at 6 AM the next day and headed straight towards our beds.
Pamukkale was all about pools and swimming, that was very refreshing for the men.. but we skipped visiting the hot springs and went to the bazaar at Denizli because we didn't spend more than an hour shopping in any city.

2 Days in Antalya: Instead of departing from our hotel in Pamukkale at 8 AM, we had to wait due to some problems with our bus allegedly.. the tourism company people (who did nothing but get us lost and have a nice time spending our money the whole journey) tried to run away to Syria and leave us since we clearly caused so much trouble with the crappy bus and the repair expenses. Following the accident were boring hours of waiting, dealing with the police, rejoicing on the arrest of the tourism company people and finally hitting the road to Antalya at 4 PM in 2 small buses instead of our usually-broken one.
Our small bus broke on the way, not surprisingly, but it got repaired relatively quickly. We arrived to Antalya at around 12 AM but, as it turned out, we had no hotel reservations.. also the two small buses, having done what they were paid to do, left us with our luggage to wait in the roads.. Little by little the ashamed tourism people found places in different hotels but we were 185 persons and it was not easy to find a place for us all.. We ended up sleeping in the road till we finally got a room at 6:30 AM in a cheap hotel.
Our room's door just wouldn't close and so we put the luggage in front of it to stop it from opening.. the few hours of sleep I got and that whole day before were like a nightmare. Next day they transferred us to a 3-star hotel..

We took a rest and then decided to walk in the streets only to realize there were beautiful free resting areas near the beach and near where we were left to sleep in the street.. We took some group photos near the beach and were all determined to have fun. At night we walked as well but were surprised with very heavy rain. We started running towards the hotel, the streets started to flood, and by the time we had reached the hotel, the electricity was out and we spent around an hour in the darkness.

2 Days in Cappadocia: Naturally the first day was spent in the road.. and the second day we started our journey towards Iraq stopping every now and then for few minutes of sightseeing..

One would think that when going with a tourism company he can just let go and ENJOY the trip.. we thought dad was finally going to get to relax after his operations.. instead we had an expensive lesson on patience.
It wasn't what we have planned for but it was, even in the worst moments, and according to us - the girls in the group who rarely get to go out of the house in the break, better than staying at home doing nothing.

I started reading a book called "Don't sweat the small stuff" (sent to me by my blogger friend Fayrouz) sometime in the middle of the trip, it helped me look at things more positively and get through it all patiently.. My mp3 player was a lot of help as well!

After 35 hours in the road we arrived to Mosul.. The windows in our house were opened due to an explosion and thanks to the dusty weather the house had become unlivable and we had so much work. Also the wire from the generator to our house had a problem and we didn't have electricity.. It was unbearable considering the fact that we didn't have cold water and the house was very hot. Only a day later we got the wire fixed and the house started to return to life.

I visited college the Sunday after our arrival to meet my friends.. there were so many students at college that one would think it isn't the break yet. I showed my friends the photos and we talked about the vacation.. We visited our department's new building, which looks very cool!
I didn't feel like actually going to college and studying until now.. now that I can't get myself to return to learning Java and am getting addicted to wasting time.

I came back from Turkey on Thursday, had the internet connection back yesterday, but didn't have the time or the energy to post.

Our trip to Turkey has been so enjoyable, so tiring and sometimes even nerve racking. Some moments were so great I didn't want them to end, other times I just wanted to give up and come back home.

The Turkey tourism company that was in charge of our trip assigned another Syrian company to do the job, the latter turned out to be quite a newbie and we like to call it Tulip Company for torturing tourists.

Turkey was great, a piece of heaven, so dreamy and unreal.. but the bus that transferred our group had a habit of breaking down every now and then that we spent about an hour of waiting for every quarter an hour of fun. Out of the 15 days in Turkey at least 5 were spent on the road all in all. The schedule was very busy and we spent so much time on the road that we barely had time to walk in the cities we visited.. I really needed more time in Ankara for example, I loved its streets looking very GREAT and foreign. Oh I really really wanted to walk on them and feel them, but I had to settle for watching them from the window.

I met so many nice people, made friends with some really great girls from our group..

We were 185 persons with the medical association, four buses, anywhere we went it became crowded, rows of people waiting for food, rows of people waiting in front of the WC, rows of people waiting for their turn in whatever.. waiting all the time.

We had so many problems with and because of the tourism company it's unbelievable, I don't think any other group had to call the police for their tourism company like we did; they were about to run away and leave us alone on day 10! Twice we checked into the hotels past 6 AM while we should arrive at noon the day before! Once it was because our bus broke and they didn't call another bus to transfer us until they lost all hope in getting the first one fixed (trying to cut the expenses of transfer), even then they brought a small bus and most of the men in our group had to spend 6 hours in another of the four buses with no seats, either standing or sitting on the floor. I had to sit in a very crowded place that I soon became nauseous and was quite happy to spend the rest of the road sitting on the floor with the luggage that didn't fit in the luggage area of the small truck. I spent the night talking with another unfortunate girl and though it wasn't very bad my back wasn't happy with the situation at all.
The other time our bus broke, we've just had called the police on the company for trying to run away, the governor of the city saw the crowds of Iraqis frustrated and he called two small buses for us.. By the time we arrived the company has canceled the reservation and we had to wait in the street with the luggage for over six hours.. That was an unforgettable night.

It was like an Indian movie, so many unfortunate surprises it was unbelievable. However, as I said, there were some great moments, and amazing sights to see.. Crossing the amazing Bosphorous bridge to the European side felt incredible. Seeing the night and the city lights for the first time was also great.. Watching Ankara from Ankara tower, walking in the beautiful gardens of the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia, the sea trip along the shores of Istanbul, the green amazing road from Ankara to Istanbul, going up Uludag mountain at night with our crappy bus (I lost breath from laughing at the jokes then, dad ended up sitting beside me and didn't let me take a look at the road!), those were all moments to remember.. It all passed so quickly, like a roller coaster ride with so many ups and downs. Reaching Iraq we could see the drastic difference in everything. Mosul has become so unbearable, the streets are destroyed and there's a heart-breaking sight in every direction you look, but that's just our life. Now we're left with the friends we've made, the photos and videos we've taken, and the many memories and pictures in my head.

There's so much more to say but I've grown tired from talking about the trip. I may write more about the program and the places we visited soon.

Here are some photos I have taken.

Labels: turkey, vacation

By the time you're reading this, and if all goes as scheduled, I should be in Turkey! I know because this is a scheduled post and we're leaving on the 31st :)

We're going with a group of physicians and their families, the date of departure was kept a secret for security reasons.. See how secretive I am?! I'm so proud of myself and it's so cool to use scheduled posts and actually need it ;)

The trip is supposed to last 15 days, 7 different hotels in 7 different cities! We're going to try to stay longer if it wasn't too tedious because we all need a serious rest after all this tension at home. We'll see!
In the meanwhile, I wish every one is enjoying and making the best of his/her time, myself included :)

Labels: turkey, vacation