A wonderful summer holidays..

I've been so relax these past few days, 'hybernating' myself at home..it's so icy-cold outside but still no sign of snow....yet...

Last night before going to bed , I browsed through all my family photos , felt a bit touchy/emotional when I could feel the absence of my three loveones here in Amman; my darling hubby, my two lovely daughters, Safiyyah and Sumayyah. Oh, I miss them all...The last time we were all together as a family was last summer....almost one month(kira semua ada pada masa yang sama coz semua balik tidak sama masa..) It's better than 2005 where only a week to see each other under one roof. However, I'm still very lucky because I still have 3 more darlings at home.

We had such a wonderful summer holidays ...Our vacation started early June (without safiyyah) in Syria and Turkey until end of August(Jordan tour with safiyyah)..It was a bit sad coz safiyyah didn't have a chance to spend her holidays in syria/ lebanon because of the israel/lebanon war.

We decided to have all our journey by land....by bus from amman-damascus- antakya(turkey) -istanbul-konya-(by train )..back to antakya-aleppo(syria)by bus-amman...12 days journey full of great memories..I love istanbul so much..we went to all parts of istanbul by bus, tram and ferry. This city is so beautiful, clean, tourist-friendly, easy-access to any tourist destinations. Toilets are all clean .. a bit expensive(RM1.50 per person/entry..)

Day 1
Departed Amman 10am-arrived in Damascus 4pm
Check in Hotel
Visited Souq Hamidiah+Umawi Mosque+Maqam Nabi Yahya+Maqam Saidina HUssein+Maqam Salahauddin Al Ayubi+Maqam Saidatina Ruqayyah

Day 2
Military Museum
City Center
My students' house for lunch
Continued our journey to Antakya at 10pm

Day 3
Arrived in Antakya(turkey) 4am
Went to city center
Visited Maqam Habibunnajar(pejuang Islam di Turkey )
Bertolak ke Istanbul 11am via Adana and Ankara

Day 4
Arrived in Istanbul at 4.30am
Took a subway to Ansarai then took a tram to Sultan Ahmet station
Check in at youth hostel very near to the blue mosque
Visited the blue mosque+Haghia sophia+city center

Day 5
Visited Karakoy castle
Breakfast at italian restaurant
Took a ferry to Haydarpasya Train Station(bought tickets to Konya)
Shopping at Beyazit Grand Bazaar+ visited Sulaimani Mosque

Day 6
Visited Gulhane Old mosque+ Dolmabahche Palace+Egyptian Spice Market

Day 7
Took a ferry to Uskudar(di asia)..took a bus to Beyleybeyi, a fisherman town across the big bridge which separates asian/european parts of Istanbul..took a ferry to Basiktas and took a bus to Emonunu(city center in front of Sulaimani mosque)and took a tram back to Sultan Ahmet.Viewed beautiful sceneries of Istanbul from every angle....

Day 8
Checked out hostel .
Took a ferry to Haydarpasya train station(left our bags there)
Lunch at kadikoy+ Lepak di park in front of University of Istanbul
Took a train to Konya at 7.20pm

Day 9
Reached Konya at 9.30am* Konya is famous for its Maulana /Darvis/Sufi who perform zikr with music and dancing(it's hard to explain)
Visited Maulana museum/mosque + Maqam of several muslim scholars
So different from Istanbul coz you can see many muslims here(women wearing jilbab are hardly seen in Istanbul)

Day10
Check out hotel
My darling hubby and zaid went to the bus station (otogar) to keep our bags
Visited Sultan Aladdin Park+Aladdin mosque ( built in year 1200)
Took a bus back to Antakya via Iskenderun at 12.50am


Day 11
Reached Antakya at 9.30am
Took a van to Aleppo(Halep) , Syria.
Rented an apartment
Went to Halep Bazaar

Day 12
Visited Halep Castle+ the shopping bazaar
Took a bus back to Amman at 11.30am
Reached Amman11.58 pm ( kat border 3hours)

Tiring but happy...Alhamdulillah everything went smoothly as planned.

Thank you so much to my eldest son ,Zaid who planned the trip so well,it's because he'd been to Turkey 6 times and more than 20 times to Syria.)