Miss Travelette

I've had a few other posts about Paris previously and this post is more likely to be "my favourite places in Paris".

Being in a new country - even for a few days - means learning new things about that culture - and the country itself of course! Sicily has a few cultural & archaeological things I noticed and I think these were worth writing here at least in one post!
These important points are going to be the points that should be kept in mind when you are in Sicily.
Because people will talk about them anyway...


One of the Largest Theatres in Europe: Teatro Massimo  

Teatro Massimo di Palermo

Designed by Giovan Battista Basile, Teatro Massimo di Palermo is known as one of the largest and most prestigious theatres in Europe. The theatre has a surface area of almost 8.000 square metres, and its magnificent Neoclassical facade is definitely worth seeing! In the picture on the left, you can see me standing right in front of the theatre. I wish I could have entered the theatre to see its inside, because most of the sources I read later on mention how beautifully it is decorated inside the building.

Thames River, Big Ben

A friend of mine and I will be in London for 3 days next week and I've prepared a very detailed program for both of us as 3 days are not enough for the places we want to see and we should dedicate ourselves to a plan somehow.

Me in the garden of Dolmabahçe Palace

This is an answer to the question "where to go in Istanbul..." 

I've lived in Istanbul more than 20 years; seen many places, been to many palaces, churches, mosques, parks, and many further, but the only favourite of mine has always been the Dolmabahçe Palace (Dolmabahçe Sarayı). - (If you want to get into the palace and see it, you will have to wait for probably an hour or more in the queue, but I assure you, it's worth it!)

Its unique architecture, and its location make it one of the best places in Istanbul and make it worth seeing for the tourists. I have been to the palace more than 4 or 5 times; accompanying my tourist friends most of the time, and I never get bored of it. - It's main importance comes from being our leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's home for his last years, although it had been used by a couple of other leaders the Ottoman Empire had.

In Sicily, I've been to three different cities - Catania, Palermo and Siracusa. These three cities have very different characteristics. Catania is a bit smaller compared to Palermo, and looks more traditional than Palermo does. Palermo is the biggest and busiest city of all and mostly the wealthy people live in it, while Catania could be explained as a place for the poor. You could spend a whole day in Palermo (but surely that would be enough to see every important thing in the city; palaces, theatres, squares and etc.) Catania had a street going down, which is the only famous one in the city, and there are loads loads loads of cute small shopping stores from where you can buy Italian-made products. (I would like to mention something I've learned when I was there: Catanians and Palermo citizens don't like each other at all; they're like two different football teams who hate each other - When I asked "why?", noone had an answer to that.)

Cattedrale di Palermo

And Siracusa is way too different from these two, because it's just some kind of holiday place where you can find very quiet beaches and Mediterranean restaurants where you can eat some Carbonara or Mediterranean salads.

To start with Palermo - one day would be well enough for the whole city, because there are not much to see. One cathedral, one palace (where you have to wait in a long queue), one theatre, one city centre, two popular boulevards and a huge seaport. That's all! I was lucky enough to meet an Australian while waiting in the queue for the palace, so we went around to see all these within only a few hours.

I love the historical places more than anything else, so I would never compare such place with a modern city for sure - and when the Mediterranean is included, too, it's like a heaven to me.
I went to Sicily last summer - a place way too hot throughout the summer, and never so cold in winters. The worst thing about my journey, it was so hot that I hated sun for the first time in my life! The best thing, I've seen a beach like Mondello - and an environment more than sincere we could call it.
People in Sicily are strange - even more than that.
As a Turkish, living in a very strange culture with strange people, who yell at each other all the time, who love speaking loud as most of the Italians, and with more low class people than the high class people living in the country, I wasn't expecting to see something different in Sicily anyway.
Well I sure did.

Today I've found a great mobile application - Voice Translator Free (Well, there are loads with the same name, so choose the purple looking one!)

2 years ago - or more - I had completed a post grad degree in London, where I had the best year of my whole life. Considering all the freedom, away from the parents, and the availability of reaching any kinds of cultural stuff, like operas, exhibitions, galleries and etc. BESIDES the pubs, nightclubs, even only the streets at nights, it's been a great experience for me. (Almost same for all the foreign students!)

Apart from the opportunities you have, the city itself is beautiful - very beautiful. Well, not the way Paris is, or let's say Amsterdam (the beeeaaautiful channels looking like landscape posters...) But the old buildings, which look very traditional and old fashioned - I love the oldfashioned! - they are just a great way of describing the city's history visually.

Annefrakhuis, is a museum located in the area Prinsengracht, where a young Jewish girl used with her family and other a few acquaintances as a hiding place during the World War II. The house is famous with the bookcase located right in front of its entrance. The apartment was used as an office, and entrance to the hiding place was through a door hidden behind this bookcase.

As a result of the diary written by this little young girl, Anne Frank, the house has a worlwide fame, and whenever you go to the museum, you'll have to wait for a long queue no matter if it's winter or summer. We waited! For almost 1 hour, at outside, when it was cold, but yet it was nice to see this house by our own eyes.

The diary of this young girl is also sold in the museum, that's where I bought two books for myself; one for myself in English and the latter one is for my dad in German. The book is all covered with what Anne Frank had written, but there are some different editions of this book, once edited by her father and the next time edited by the publication company as I remember, but I'm sure you can find the complete one in this museum.

Hey, there! Today, I wanted to mention a very helpful city guide application that I've found for my iPhone. Pretty sure it'll be working on some of other phones as well (yet not sure if it'll be working with Android).

I hope it won't be looking like an advertisement, BECAUSE it is not. I love sharing useful stuff with everyone so here we are:

GuidePal! Yes, the name is GuidePal. You can search on your phone's app store, and find it in a sudden.

Easy to use. Very short texts are included, so you'll get the main points only. Not the details, but still it's helpful when you have to decide where to go, where to eat, what to do in a city that you're not accustomed to. I think every travel lover should get this application and use it abroad.

Dam Square - the Koninklijk Paleis at the back

In my previous post, I had given a very brief information about Amsterdam, and now I think it's the best time to get into the details.

But before anything else I would really like to write a bit about the transportation system in Amsterdam. It seemed quite complicated to me at first, but once you go there and ask, you suddenly realise it's verrry very easy to use.

I would recommend you to use the trams as they go almost every place in the city. Busses might be a bit more complicated for a tourist, but tram maps are easy to use. And once you buy a 3-day or one-week travel card, you will not have to pay some extra money for travel. My friend and I had bought 2 travel cards (I'm not sure how they were called in Amsterdam) with limitless usage for 3 full days, and paid only 15 euros per one. That counted like 5 euros for one day, and was quite cheap for us. And yet of course we did not have to use them a lot, as Amsterdam was too small and we preferred walking by foot while getting from one place to another. Another choice might be the OV-chipkaart, for which you have to pay 7.50 euros to buy the card, and top up later on for travel. They all can be used both in trams and buses. Metro is also a way of transportation in the city, but to be honest, I never seen any signs of metro during my stay. Trams are the most used...

Me around the hotel we stayed in on Beethovenstraat

Therefore you'd better buy an OV-chipkaart right before you start your tour in the city, so you'll have no trouble with getting around. The best thing I could offer you is to ask any staff in your hotel whether or not there is a tram within a close distance. Learn the details, such as the numbers of trams which directly go to the centre (Especially to Leidseplein and Rembrandtplein - these are the points that you will use most), which direction you have to go (Left or right? You may choose the wrong side and go outside of the city in an instant, and you won't love it for sure, so the best will be to ask the staff which direction should be taken), where to buy an OV-chipkaart and further questions that you have in your minds.

Oh by the way, never forget that there is a check-in and check-out system on every of them, tram, bus or metro, with no exception, so you'll have to use your card 2 times, once when you get in to check-in with the card and to leave the vehicle to check-out. If you forget this, probably you'll experience some problems while checking-in or out for the next time.

Knowing which trams or busses go to your hotel will be of great importance, since the city might look complicated as you're not accustomed to it yet and you may lose your way back to your hotel at nights. (Note that trams work only till the midnight, so you either will choose to travel by bus or hire a taxi to get to your hotel after 12 o'clock.)

So... know which lines and numbers go to your hotel's destination, know which numbers go to the centre, know when is the last time of the last tram, and know which direction is to the city, which is to your hotel. (For those who reserve a hotel room right in the middle of the city, this will not be a subject of course.)

Taxis are the best way to get to your hotel when it's dark, I wanted to let you know...
And enough of transportation.

Now let's get started with the areas you should see first!

Leidseplein - The liveliest area in Amsterdam 

We stayed in Amsterdam for 4 days and almost every day we visited the Leidseplein at least for once. As you all may already know, Amsterdam is famous with its coffe shops and little drugs that are legal to use. The Bulldog is the most famous coffe shop in Amsterdam, but very unfortunately, in Bulldog, it's almost impossible to find a place to sit. We went there at about 8-9 PM, and it was full with people already. So, although the staff was incredibly lovely and fun, we had to leave the place and find another coffe shop.

We chose another one, which was located on a street that is a bit far from the square, as we were able to find it only, but to be honest, the products were great inside. I'm not sure what's the main thing with Bulldog's fame, but we tried space cakes both from the Bulldog and the other coffe shop we found; the one we bought was way more delicious than the one we bought from the Bulldog. So never say 'I'll buy from the Bulldog, it's the best I know'... All the coffe shops are of good quality in Amsterdam (Well, almost all...)

But pleeease please be careful if you ever want to try any of the space cakes or mushrooms or smoke something else. This may be your first time, it's the well-known fact that people who start with high dose of space cakes or mushrooms experience a night like a nightmare... So get suggestions from the staff inside, and wait long for the drug you used to show its effect. It takes about 1-2 hours to see...

The famous Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam is also very close to this area, all you need to do is to follow the signs that show the cafe, and you're there! A very important advice here, don't go there when you're too hungry, instead go there 1 hour earlier than your usual dinner time, because you'll be told that there is no seats in the restaurant, so you will either wait for a place to be reserved or get in and start drinking in the bar. We preferred waiting for the restaurant, and were given a stuff looking like a joy stick that will give signals when a table is available. The best thing to do while waiting is to sit in the bar next to Hard Rock and drink 2-3 bottles of Heineken beers. That's what we did! It lasted more than 1 hour for us to see the signal on the joy stick I kept in my hand... But then, we were there! In the Hard Rock Cafe with loads of decorations on the walls, and lively atmosphere inside. The best thing for me was to see Lenny Kravitz's old guitar. Old pictures, loads of other guitars, prints on the walls... A greatly decorated place for those who love the world of rock.

When it comes to food, the cafe is perfect! I recommend you the Legendary Hamburgers that are well-known as the delicious pieces special to the Hard Rock. They were soooo so delicious, I was never aware of the fact that I actually was eating just a hamburger! It's too big and the meat is incredibly delicious... Sauces are also like the food itself. We ate 2 dinners in there, once in restaurant, and the second was in the bar - but with the same menu! LEGENDARY BURGERS for both of us!

Please note that we ONLY drank Heineken as it is a Dutch speciality and deserve to be chosen among all the other beers when you're in Holland! Drink loads of Heinekens.

And finally, I'll recommend you another dinner place where we went twice again - The Steak House right next to the Hard Rock Cafe. The steaks was great, and the red shadowy atmosphere inside is peaceful. Staff is helpful, so you won't need any recommendations on food.

What's more? I definitely recommend you to walk around and discover the surroundings. Little bridges you'll have to cross to reach the Hard Rock, the leaves on the water, little stores that are mostly closed at night but yet looking lovely... Everything is so lovely, you should definitely spend at least half an hour wandering around to see this area.

After the dinner, the best thing you'd do is to go back to the Leidseplein and discover the nightclubs and pubs to enjoy a few more drinks and even maybe some legal drug...   

Me sitting by a canal

Long Break and I'm here again - Suddenly realised that FINALLY I want to write about AMSTERDAM today!

Sorry to those who were really interested in my blog as they may have waited long to read new posts by me, but sadly I was busy working and writing on other blogs that belong to me (they all are in Turkish, so there is no point to give the links away...)

I will go on writing and will talk a bit about Amsterdam today.
As I remember, I had underlined some important points about Amsterdam in my previous posts.

Today, I will not have enough time to tell everything I have in my mind, but yet I have a few things to say about the city. The details will be told in my next blog posts, so please keep posted.

Me, in front of the famous "I amsterdam" around the Museumplein

As most of you has already heard, Amsterdam is just a great place to live, to hang out, to travel to, and to... well, it is just great for everything. I spent only four days in Amsterdam, and I would not recommend you more than that. It is such a small city, and you will find a couple of things to do at nights and days. But yet, it was great to get into that atmosphere where everyone is happy and smiling during the day!

Me, having a break by a cannal