People often make the mistake of thinking that Istanbul is the capital of Turkey, so do I.
Well, Istanbul was the capital in the beginning of 20th century, and Ankara took over the replacement after the 1st world war.
The misconception probably arises partly because most of the famous tourist places are located in Istanbul but not Ankara.
Every country has their own heroes to save their nations, and Ataturk is the Turkey's national hero.
When you are at the Ataturk Mausoleum, you can understand how important Ataturk in the Turkish history, as well as learning how was the Turkish War of Independence.
The Mausoleum is huge with quite some space to walk around; not only in the building complex but also outside of the building.
The security was tight compare to the other attraction places as we have to go down from the bus and went through the checkpoint one by one.
Ataturk is truly the Father of the country.
He is not only the founder of the Turkish Republic, but also acted as a revolutionary, a brave soldier, a great leader and an international figure of the 20th century.
He was the Turkey's first president who helped to modernize the country, and that's why the Turkish are so respect to him.
Inside the art gallery of Ataturk, there are many oil paintings of Ataturk with his life stories.
All the paintings are so beautiful and vivid.
This is the biggest painting of Ataturk that everyone MUST take a picture in front of it.
The Ataturk and Turkish Revolution Library is a special library which includes the books from Ataturk, and also books about the national war and the resolutions.
Behind the museum's exit, there is a souvenir shop which sell things like flags, pens, wallets, T-shirts, badges with the picture of Ataturk on them.
All prices are pretty reasonable and my dad bought a wallet at about RM60-RM70 with a premium quality.
My dad enjoyed his visit here very much as he is the kind of person who enjoyed the history as well as admiring those heroes who saved the nations.
By the way, if you aren't really interested to know too much of the history, perhaps you can just pay a short and brief visit before your next destination since the admission here is free of charge. #hehe
It took us about 6 hours to get to the next city, Safranbolu.
Safranbolu is a city which preserves the traditional living style of Turkish people.
As this city has been well protected with it's rich cultural heritage, it has known as one of the UNESCO World Heritage City.
Before we reached the downtown area, we have a stop at the Hidirlik Hill.
From the Hidirlik Hill, you can see clearly the famous ottoman houses where the Turkish settled themselves when they came to Safranbolu.
All houses in the city look like small square boxes and each houses appeared their own characteristics when you see them from the hill.
The panoramic view of Safranbolu is really beautiful which will definitely fascinate you!
For me, it looks a bit like an English country style garden with an elegant courtyard, and flowers in different lovely colours.
The wonderful atmosphere is very clean looking and peaceful to the eye!
There is a cafe at the hilltop where you can have a sip of your Saffron tea which only available at here.
It's a great pleasure to sit down to watch the beautiful view on the hill while having a fresh cup of hot tea and coffee.
Safranbolu becomes a popular tourist place is because it has the architectural from the Ottoman period which still retained until today.
The downtown area has many well preserved building such as mosque, museum, fountains, clock tower, and houses.
All these buildings and the streets are the regular one from the old period.
There are many coffee houses and souvenier shops along the street where you can sit for a coffee and buying their local delights and handicraft products.
Cinci Han, located at the downtown area is a traditional house showing the old traditional lifestyle in Safranbolu.
It was built with total 2 storey and now still standing and used as hotel and restaurant.
To be frank, nothing much to see there.
Another highlight of Safranbolu is the hotels in that area.
We stayed at Kadioglu Hotel which is about 5-10 minutes away from the downtown area.
It's another special stay for me in Turkey.
The hotel is built on a very old Ottoman house and therefore it has a very minimum basic structure inside the room.
There is no lift in the hotel and we have to walk up to the 3rd floor as we had the room for 3 person.
When we stepped into the room, we were a bit shock because the room is quite small and the bathroom is even smaller.
Don't be shock to see the bathroom hides inside the wardrobe.
It's traditionally decorated and include central heating, an old small TV, free Wifi which only accessible at the lobby.
Well, sorry to say that I didn't enjoy the stay at all at this hotel although it is clean, well maintained and with friendly staffs.
If given a choice, I think I would feel more comfortable to stay in a modern hotel if there is one in the city.
I'm not very much impressed with the day 6 in Turkey since I'm not the type of person that knows history and facts.
No doubt that Safranbolu is beautiful to see, but I think we arrived at the wrong time.
It was already late evening when we arrived and we left the hotel at 5am next morning.
I believe this city would be more charming and beautiful if you come here in the day time.
My outfit of today:
Inner Sweater: Bershka
1st Outer: Korea
2nd Outer: Gap
Sneaker: Converse
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