Spiritual – Travelling Leila

Portugal – Day 5

Posted on June 23, 2025 by travellingleila

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April 19 – Friday

On the last day, we were very unlucky with the weather. Rain had been in the forecast all week, and it did come – fortunately, only in the afternoon.

We got up, had breakfast, and then made a second attempt to get into the Majestic Café and have coffee there. We got in, but there was nothing special about it – all its popularity is nothing more than tourist hype. A café like any other.

Then we tried to get into Livraria Lello – the most famous bookstore in Porto, said to have inspired the idea of Hogwarts. As is known, J.K. Rowling lived in Porto for a while, and it was supposedly in the Majestic Café that she wrote Harry Potter. To be honest, I can’t imagine how anyone could write in such a loud and pompous place, but then again, I’m not Rowling! We didn’t get into Livraria – same story, a huge queue. Later we found out that entry is paid and costs 5 euros, but we gave up anyway.

We decided to go shopping and went to the Via Rua Catarina shopping centre, where we did quite well. There are both local Portuguese brands and European ones. We also had lunch at the food court. And when we came out, it was already pouring rain. We had to buy umbrellas right then and there.

Somehow we ran back to the hotel and rested. In the evening, we had a light show planned in the centre, at the Clérigos Church. We left a little early, hoping to climb the Clérigos Tower first, but in such weather – barely making it to Clérigos in short dashes – we decided against climbing any towers.

I really liked the light show. It lasted for half an hour and was a kind of combination of old (baroque!) and new technologies – essentially a very spectacular and colorful digital animation with beautiful orchestral music.

In the evening, we had dinner with traditional Portuguese fado. The dinner included a starter, main course, dessert, and half a bottle of wine – everything was very tasty. I also really enjoyed the performance – such soulful romances.

English, Europe, Lisbon, Portugal

Portugal – Day 1

Posted on June 22, 2025 by travellingleila

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April 17, 2023

Technically, my trip to Portugal was supposed to start two days ago – on Saturday, April 15 – and I’d already bought a ticket for that date well in advance. But literally 36 hours before, when I received an email saying that online check-in was open and started entering my details at 1 a.m., I suddenly looked closely at my Schengen visa and realised that it was only valid from April 17. The old one had expired on the 13th, and the new one was valid from the 17th – so I had managed to buy a ticket for one of those unlucky four days when I didn’t have a visa. I had to urgently change it and buy a new one for 6 a.m. on Monday.

As a result, I had to wake up today at 2 a.m., and by 2:45 I was already in a taxi on my way to Heathrow. Everything went smoothly – unsurprisingly, there weren’t many people at the airport at that hour, so I didn’t have to queue for anything. I even managed to find coffee and oatmeal cookies. Special mention goes to a fellow passenger who showed up at 3:30 a.m. in full makeup – truly impressive.

By 10 a.m., I had arrived at the hotel in Lisbon, where my friend Rena – who’d flown in on Saturday, as originally planned – was already waiting for me.

I had another strong coffee (no joke, I’d been up since 2 a.m. and hadn’t slept a minute on the plane), and then we headed out for a walk around the Baixa district.

It is sunny and hot in Lisbon – a touch of summer after London’s unseasonably cold spring.

The city itself is very hilly – you’re constantly going up and down, and of course the “down” is much more pleasant. There are quite a few tourists, mostly French as far as I can tell – at least, they’re the ones you most often come across.

The city is stunning, with very interesting architecture. Many buildings are decorated with clay tiles – painted in the traditional Portuguese style. These tiles are called azulejos.

We’d headed to Baixa quite purposefully – our first stop for the day was the Carmo Convent, which now houses an archaeological museum. In 1755, Lisbon was hit by a devastating earthquake, followed by a tsunami and fires, and as a result almost the entire city was destroyed. For instance, only the shell of the Carmelite monastery remained, and that’s how it still stands today.

Afterwards, we had lunch – some fish – in a tiny tavern, and then visited Lisbon Cathedral (Sé), and saw the cloisters and treasury.

For the evening, we had planned a cruise along the Tagus River (which also flows through Spain – it starts there and reaches the Atlantic near Lisbon). We’d been told that seating on the deck was limited to the first 52 people, and when we arrived, there were already well over that many in the queue. Still, we somehow managed to score great spots – a table at the very front of the deck, right at the bow, next to a group of Germans.

Asia, English, Japan, Kyoto

Japan – Day 9

Posted on June 15, 2025June 17, 2025 by travellingleila

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31 May 2025

Today is our last day in Kyoto. We woke up very early again and had breakfast in a French café.

Since it was early, we decided to go to Gion again and take another look at the geisha quarter and the streets around the Yasaka Pagoda, which we hadn’t properly explored a couple of days ago when it was crowded and we were in a rush. We figured there would be fewer people at this time – and we were right. Of course, there were the occasional enthusiastic Chinese tourists who got up early and even dressed in kimonos to take photos before the crowds arrived. But overall, there weren’t many people, so we were able to enjoy the Yasaka Pagoda and the historic streets of Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka in relative peace.

However, we still didn’t manage to spend a lot of time there – we were feeling cold, and it also started to rain. I’ve actually been joking that the head of the local meteorological service should commit hara-kiri – the forecasts here are so unreliable that you almost need to do the opposite of what they tell you. For example, yesterday the forecast promised cool weather and rain, but not a drop fell – it was 26 degrees, hot and stuffy. And today, on the contrary, it promised 23–24 degrees, with sunshine, and zero chance of rain – but couldn’t even forecast an hour ahead, because it was grey and chilly, and the rain started almost immediately.

So we went back to the hotel to change clothes and grab an umbrella, and then we went our separate ways. I went to the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, while Rena had already been there on her last visit and didn’t want to go a second time. Not surprising – the shrine is located on Mount Inari, and the main shrine is at the top. The whole round trip takes about two hours, so doing it once is probably enough.

The temple is famous for the more than ten thousand orange torii gates that line the entire route up and down the mountain, forming tunnels of gates you walk through. I arrived around mid-morning, and there was an absolute sea of people. Especially at the entrance to the first “corridor” of torii gates, there was a continuous flow. Everyone was trying to take photos, but there was hardly any space to move.

Apparently, people didn’t realize that the torii gates would continue all the way to the top of the mountain – or maybe they just didn’t feel like climbing there. Some were dressed in kimonos, some even in evening dresses – where would you go in heels or socks with flip-flops up a mountain?

To be honest, I wasn’t planning to go all the way to the top either. I thought I’d climb a little, take some photos of the gates from different angles, see a few shrines, and call it a day. But then, for some reason, I got caught up in the excitement – maybe it was the signs at each rest stop showing how much further to the summit. Especially that the higher you go, the fewer people there are. I was able to peacefully explore the shrines and the torii gates – for example, the back of each gate is covered in kanji. It might seem like some sacred texts, but it’s actually just the names of those who donated each gate – there are even a few rare inscriptions in Latin script. The route isn’t one straight path – there are forks leading to smaller, secondary shrines, and rest areas with toilets, a small shop, and an ice cream stand.

One route led up, the other down. In the end, very few people made it to the summit, so I could take photos in peace. By then, though, I was completely drenched in sweat – and that was despite the spitting rain and cool weather.

After the shrine, I was supposed to meet up with Rena for lunch at a ramen place – but there was a slight hitch. We didn’t align when we arrived and stood in the queue, so I ended up going in first and tried to save her a seat next to me, but they didn’t allow that – we had to sit separately. The concept of this (chain) restaurant is that visitors sit alone, separated from each other by plywood dividers. There’s also a divider between guests and staff – you just pass them a piece of paper with your order number and the desired spice level, noodle firmness, etc., and they place your ramen through a small window.

So, in the end, we didn’t sit next to each other – but it was fine. After lunch, we walked around the shops and bought some Korean cosmetics.

Then our tired legs started reminding us of themselves – and of all the previous days, each of which involved at least 20,000 steps. We had to find a café to sit down in – we found one in a small side street. In general, I have to say that all the little backstreets in Kyoto feel the same – I honestly couldn’t tell the street our hotel is on apart from another one a kilometre or two away.

After coffee, we went back to the hotel to rest a bit. And then it was already evening, so we headed to a recently opened izakaya, where we had all sorts of interesting dishes, like some kind of whelk in an unusual sauce, but also quite plain donburi with chicken and egg (a sort of chigirtma–plov à la Japonaise) – and drank fragrant sake.

After that, we continued the evening at an Irish pub we’d spotted earlier – but only briefly, since it turned out to be a bit of a dive. On a Saturday evening, there were hardly any people: there was a cheerful Japanese group celebrating something in the private room, and in the main area – just a couple of foreigners, plus us.

Asia, English, Hiroshima, Japan, Miyajima

Japan – Day 6

Posted on June 15, 2025June 17, 2025 by travellingleila

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28 May 2025

Today we went to Miyajima Island right in the morning. Prior to that, we had breakfast at our hotel – we tried the buffet on the 25th floor, which had a really cool view of the city. The breakfast offered both Western and Japanese options, including local Hiroshima specialties like fish cakes and fish sausage.

We walked to Shin-Hakushima Station, passing by the castle we visited yesterday – which, in daylight, looked a little less impressive than it did lit up at night. The train took about 20 minutes to get us to the ferry terminal, accompanied by a noisy Iranian tour group. From the terminal, ferries from two different companies run frequently to Miyajima, and the crossing only takes 10 minutes. From the ferry, we got a great view of the famous “floating” torii gates.

There were tons of tourists on the island – but despite its small size, it didn’t feel crowded. Somehow, everyone seemed to spread out. Most tourists were local Japanese, but there were also quite a few foreigners – the Germans again made a noticeable appearance.

Stray deer roam freely on the island – so there’s no need to go to Nara to see them. That said, the ones here seem hungrier and more persistent. We didn’t even think of eating anything outside, but we saw others who did and clearly regretted it, trying in vain to fend off the pushy deer.

Once on the island, we wandered through the charming streets of Miyajima toward the Itsukushima Shrine – the one the “floating” torii gate belongs to. Interestingly, the gate doesn’t “float” all the time – only at high tide. So when we arrived in the morning, it was surrounded by water, but by around 3 p.m., it was already on dry land, with people walking right up to it and through it.

The shrine is Shinto, and the entrance fee is 300 yen (about £1.50), but at the moment, much of it is closed for restoration. Unfortunately, the nearby five-tiered pagoda from the 15th century was also under restoration – we didn’t even recognise it at first, and thought it was a new building going up in the middle of this historical island! So when we climbed up to the Hokoku Temple, we weren’t able to see it.

We then continued up to Daisho-in Temple – unlike the shrine and like Hokoku, this one is Buddhist. From here, you can hike to the top of Mount Misen, but we decided not to do that and just enjoyed the temple itself.

The path to the temple was calm and peaceful. Of course, tourists come here too (the same noisy Iranian group was there), but not in overwhelming numbers. Many worshippers were also present, performing rituals. For example, you can strike a large bell and make a wish – though you have to pay. Sure, you can do it for free, but I would imagine that the local higher powers probably don’t grant free wishes.

They say (and back it up with photos!) that the views from the temple in autumn are absolutely spectacular – but even in May, for some reason, many trees were already red, so it was beautiful anyway. We really liked the temple.

By then it was lunchtime, so we headed back down toward the pier and went into one of the local restaurants to try regional cuisine. We were seated in a “Japanese room” – many places here offer that option – which means sitting on tatami mats at a low table, shoes off. The regional specialties are grilled eel and oysters, which we had in a set meal with buckwheat noodles (soba). It was interesting to try, but I wouldn’t call it my favourite flavour of Japan.

Another local delicacy is momiji manju – maple-leaf-shaped cakes with sweet fillings. The traditional version has sweet bean paste, which I didn’t like, but the chocolate and custard-filled ones were very tasty and delicate.

After lunch, we strolled through covered streets filled with cafés, food stalls, and souvenir shops – including some Ghibli-themed ones that were much better than the museum shop we saw yesterday.

Then we stopped for coffee at a place we’d spotted earlier that looked like someone’s private garden. And as far as I could tell, that’s exactly what it was – a house and garden converted into a café, run by two elderly women. The garden was beautifully maintained and very traditionally Japanese, and it was such a pleasant spot to relax. At first there were some noisy customers chatting loudly, but they left soon after.

From there, we headed back to the ferry. For some reason, at that time there were schoolchildren in uniforms everywhere – whole classes, probably on school trips. Some were arriving, some were leaving, some were gathered for class photos.

Back in Hiroshima, we decided to walk through the Peace Memorial Park and visit the Atomic Dome – the skeletal remains of one of the Hiroshima Prefectural buildings that survived the atomic bombing. Interestingly, the memorial plaque doesn’t mention anywhere that the bombing was carried out by the Americans – and the overall tone of the memorial isn’t accusatory at all, but more like a quiet reflection on the horrors of war and the importance of peace.

At the hotel, we arrived just in time for happy hour and had some rather mediocre wine that made us a bit dizzy – but then we went to dinner and had delicious katsu to make up for it.

Asia, English, Japan, Tokyo

Japan – Day 4

Posted on June 15, 2025June 16, 2025 by travellingleila

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26 May 2025

In the morning, we went to have breakfast at a French bakery not far from the hotel. Since we had the Ghibli Museum on the agenda for today, we decided not to rush and instead went for a walk through Harajuku – a trendy, youthful district full of interesting and extravagant shops with alternative fashion.

Tokyo really is a huge city – the distances are vast, and each district has its own distinct vibe, completely different from the others.

Another observation – the Japanese really do love queuing. Even though, as I mentioned before, there are countless eateries, some are clearly more popular than others, and there are always queues outside them. We often see queues at shops too – and sometimes, it’s not even clear what people are queuing up for.

We walked across the entire district to the subway station, and from there we headed to the Kichijoji area, where the Ghibli Museum is located. Kichijoji also has a totally different feel, and it also has narrow streets with izakayas, but we didn’t find anything interesting here: since it was around midday, most of them were shut behind roller shutters (I’m guessing, it’s more lively in the evening).

So, in search of lunch, we somehow ended up in the Japanese equivalent of what we’d call a “day-day kafesi” (literally – “café for uncles”), indeed quite packed with local “uncles”, and everything was in Japanese. Luckily, the ordering was done via an interactive tablet – you just tap on pictures and help yourself out with Google Lens. They served ramen, noodles, yakitori with rice, and some very tasty gyoza. It was a delicious and incredibly cheap meal – 1800 yen for two (that’s 9 pounds, mind you!).

After lunch, we still had time before the museum and headed to the nearby Inokashira Park – a lovely park with a large lake in the middle.

As for the museum itself – as you can probably guess, it’s dedicated to the Ghibli anime studio. Tickets need to be bought in advance – for foreign tourists, they’re released once a month for the following month and sell out within just a couple of hours. I’m not a Ghibli fan (to be honest, I’ve never even seen a single film), but I joined Rena – and didn’t regret it one bit.

You’re not allowed to take pictures inside the museum, which makes sense – otherwise, people would be crowding every exhibit forever. The exhibits – both temporary and permanent – were really interesting. The idea is to use Studio Ghibli’s well-known anime films as an example to show the entire animation process – from early sketches and drawings to the final product.

There are piles of scrapbooks and art books filled with images of everything imaginable – tools, landscapes, cityscapes, people in motion, animals, plants – all used to create the most realistic animations possible. You really get a sense of how colossal the amount of work is.

It was also fascinating to see how animation frames are brought to life – with techniques like layering images or using fast-spinning three-dimensional figures in different poses (the rotation itself is too fast to see, so it looks like the figures are actually moving, though they’re just different models ending up in the same position). Overall, it was all really, really interesting.

They also showed a short animation – “The Day I Bought a Star” – about a boy who buys something like a precious gem from a mole and a frog, then plants it and grows a planet. Unfortunately, the film was in Japanese with no subtitles, so we didn’t quite understand what was going on. Actually, the museum doesn’t bother much with translations in other parts either – apparently, they feel they have enough visitors already, and if you don’t understand Japanese, that’s your own problem.

The museum shop was a bit of a disappointment – we expected more, given how great the museum was, but it really didn’t impress us.

After the museum, we headed to the other side of Tokyo – to the Asakusa district – to visit Sensoji Temple. It’s Buddhist and is the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo. The approach to the temple is via Nakamise-dori, a traditional-style shopping street that mostly sells souvenirs. Since it was almost evening already, very few of the shops were still open – which was actually a good thing, because there were no crowds. The temple itself was beautiful.

We had dinner in the same area, at a yakiniku-style restaurant – where you grill meat and other food yourself at the table. The place offered all-you-can-eat for 100 minutes. Naturally, we went for the marbled Wagyu beef – they had a variety of cuts. Unfortunately, we only managed two rounds of meat per person – a shame, because the beef was absolutely delicious!

Asia, English, Japan, Kawaguchiko

Japan – Day 3

Posted on June 15, 2025June 16, 2025 by travellingleila

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25 May 2025

Today we got up early, at 8 o’clock (although jet lag is still noticeable), and went for breakfast at a cool café nearby, in the park. They serve delicious Japanese milk bread for breakfast everywhere – it looks like an airy bun, and at first glance I thought I wouldn’t like it, but it’s actually really tasty.

Then we picked up my umbrella I’d forgotten at another café yesterday, and after that, we headed out for our trip to Lake Kawaguchiko and Mount Fuji!

I have to say, this trip had a whole backstory that deserves to be told separately. The thing is, this time of year doesn’t offer great chances of seeing Mount Fuji: the best visibility is during the winter months, and even then, the odds are only about 60–70%, while May isn’t ideal at all. Because of the clouds and fog, Fuji might not be visible at all – or only be partly visible. So planning a trip there far in advance makes absolutely no sense. It’s better to decide last minute, using a special website that gives 5-day weather and visibility forecasts for the mountain from both the north and south.

A couple of days before travelling to Japan, I checked the site, but the forecasts for our stay in Tokyo looked pretty discouraging. On the evening of our first day, we checked again – and saw that for today’s afternoon, visibility was rated 6 out of 10. We decided to take a risk and bought bus tickets anyway. And today – it was showing 10 out of 10!

The bus picked us up right from our hotel and took us to Kawaguchiko Station in two hours. And right away, we saw the majestic mountain – fully visible! It really is incredibly impressive.

First things first – we decided to get lunch. We wanted to try the local specialty noodles (udon), but the line outside the restaurant didn’t look inspiring, so we went to another place that only serves one dish: beef katsu cutlet.

After lunch, we went for a walk along the perimeter of Lake Kawaguchiko – one of the “Five Fuji Lakes” – toward an observation deck. The lake itself didn’t seem all that remarkable, at least not this part of it – we didn’t even feel like doing a boat tour, which we’d originally planned.

There was a funny moment when it seemed like the mountain had completely disappeared, and we were confused – how could it vanish in just five minutes? But it turned out we were just looking in the wrong direction, and it was hidden behind a hill, so soon enough, it reappeared – still in full view.

Next on our list was the Chureito Pagoda with its famous “postcard” view of Mount Fuji. From the observation deck where we’d already taken a hundred million photos, we decided to walk there instead of heading back to the station to take a train – we figured an hour and twenty minutes on foot sounded doable.

Spoiler alert: this turned out not to be our brightest idea, because 2.5 kilometers of the walk (at least half an hour) went straight through a car tunnel carved through a mountain – something Google Maps didn’t warn us about. Initially we didn’t even realise how long it was. We reached the mountain, saw the tunnel, and even joked that a clever person wouldn’t climb a mountain but would rather dig a tunnel through it. But dragging ourselves through that dark, polluted tunnel wasn’t the most pleasant part of the trip. We didn’t see a single other pedestrian – just a couple of puzzled cyclists passed us along the narrow walkway.

After the tunnel, though, the walk was much nicer – through a quiet rural area, with cute houses and irises blooming in small gardens. It must be lovely to live there, with the country’s most important symbol as your everyday backdrop.

Of course, to reach the pagoda itself we had to climb uphill – wouldn’t expect anything else. By then it was about 5 pm, so there weren’t many people around. Most tourist groups probably visit in the morning, because I recall reading reviews saying the pagoda isn’t worth it because of the crowds, with people packed so tightly it’s hard to take a single photo. As for us, we spent quite a while on the viewing platform, admiring the view of the pagoda and Fuji, and took yet another hundred million photos. In total, I must have photographed at least a hundred different views of Mount Fuji – just like Hokusai, only with much less effort!

On the way back, we ran into a bit of an issue. We hadn’t realised that bus tickets needed to be booked in advance. In one sense, it wasn’t a bad thing – we didn’t know exactly how much time we’d need to explore. But when we got to the bus stop, all three buses that came only picked up passengers who already had tickets. Since they were full, they refused to take us. When we checked the bus company’s website, we saw that all the remaining buses for the day were also sold out.

We had to walk to Shimoyoshida Station – at least that was still an option!

From there, we had to transfer trains and then take the subway. The return trip took over three hours, probably to balance out how easy and direct the ride there had been (right from the hotel!). So we ended up having a rather sad dinner – a sandwich and an onigiri (a rice triangle with filling, wrapped in dried seaweed) that we grabbed at the station and basically inhaled on the train in minutes, like cormorants (since it’s considered rude to eat or drink on Japanese public transport, at least we didn’t embarrass ourselves for too long!).

All in all, despite the hiccups, it was a wonderful trip – and Fuji-san was kind to us. We were so lucky to see her in all her glory!

Asia, English, Japan, Tokyo

Japan – Day 2

Posted on June 15, 2025June 16, 2025 by travellingleila

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24 May 2025

Observations after our second day in Tokyo – first of all, Japan is, above all, for the Japanese. For example, you won’t see souvenir shops with magnets and other touristy junk popping up everywhere – you can find them, of course, but you pretty much have to deliberately look for them.

Secondly, cash still plays a major role here – which is surprising for such a developed, high-tech country. Cards are accepted in many places, but definitely not everywhere. For example, the balance on the transport IC card (which, by the way, is incredibly convenient – you can use it for transport all over Japan, and also to pay in convenience stores like FamilyMart and 7-Eleven, at vending machines, and even to lock up your suitcase in hotel storage rooms or in Shinkansen luggage lockers) can only be topped up with cash. You can load it from a card only when you first buy it at the airport.

That said, the country doesn’t even feel especially high-tech. Websites and online payment systems are often clunky, and the city infrastructure doesn’t give off a futuristic vibe that’s miles ahead of, say, old Europe – like was the case in e.g. Singapore. For instance, there aren’t always escalators at the entrances and exits of the subway, which would be unthinkable in Singapore. It feels like Japan’s rapid development sort of paused at some point – maybe in the ’90s. The architecture doesn’t resemble the likes of Singapore or Hong Kong either. There are lots of plain, boxy concrete apartment buildings. But it also doesn’t feel densely built-up like Hong Kong, despite what we’d heard about Japanese homes being so compact they fit a bed, a toilet, and a kitchen into literally a single square meter – often with retractable furniture. At least from the outside, it doesn’t look like space is that tight.

People, of course, are very polite. If the British are known for loving to queue, then the Japanese seem like they were born for it.

We also noticed that various jobs that seem “inefficient” by our standards – like waving a flag to direct traffic that’s already controlled by traffic lights – are often done by elderly men. Even in retirement age, people don’t sit at home on the couch; they still prefer to work, even if it’s not clear what exactly they’re contributing.

Now, about today itself. In the morning, we had breakfast at a café near the hotel and then headed to Meiji Shrine. It’s a large area with gardens and the shrine complex itself – the biggest Shinto shrine in Tokyo from the early 20th century. It was interesting, though there wasn’t that much to linger over. We were lucky to see a traditional Japanese wedding procession, and all the tourists immediately whipped out their cameras to record it.

From there, we went to the Nezu area, where we strolled through narrow streets and visited another shrine – called Nezu Shrine. It was much quieter there, clearly not a major tourist spot, but we actually found it more charming and interesting.

Before visiting the shrine, we had sushi nearby. I ordered an assorted nigiri set – I could recognise salmon, tuna, and grilled eel, and there were a few other types of fish I couldn’t identify. It was incredibly tasty – sushi like this just doesn’t exist outside Japan. And yes, it’s true what people say: sushi here is nothing like what we get back home. Here it’s mostly nigiri, sashimi, and occasionally very simple maki rolls. Just the basics: rice, fish, nori. No mayo, avocado, cream cheese – or God forbid, Caesar rolls.

Next, we headed to the Ginza district and walked around. Each Tokyo neighbourhood feels different from the the other – Ginza feels more upscale and also more European in a way. In places, it almost feels like walking around the Galeries Lafayette area in Paris.

In Ginza, we visited the Art Aquarium Museum, which has lots of different aquarium installations with live fish lit up in creative ways. Yes, it was cool and interesting, but there was also something a bit unsettling about it – some sense of neglect or even cruelty. Some tanks were tiny glass bowls, others looked like solitary confinement cells with two or three fish crammed inside, clearly with no room to move. It’s unclear whether they’re kept there permanently, and if not, how the whole system works – how they’re fed, where they’re moved, etc. The fish themselves were fascinating – some with bulging eyes, others round-bellied and odd-looking. But after a while, the installations started to feel a bit repetitive.

We had dinner in a diner in the same building – set meals with meat, fish, and various small side dishes. I had one with wagyu beef.

We wanted to hang around Ginza a bit longer, but it started raining so we headed back to the hotel.

English, Europe, Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul – Day 3

Posted on March 8, 2019March 18, 2019 by travellingleila

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06 February 2019

Today has been a particularly busy day, and the weather played up very well: the forecast that promised non-stop rain turned out wrong, and it actually only rained in the morning while we were still on the bus on our way to the tour around the main sights of Istanbul’s Old City.

Surprisingly, although we had reserved yesterday’s and today’s tours on different websites, we were greeted by the same guide as yesterday, Muzaffer, in our English-speaking group. Apart from us there was also the same Indian couple as yesterday and an Irish family. Looking ahead, I will say that after lunch we were joined by another couple from Hong Kong and some British Indians.

The day started getting a spiritual direction right from the start – from the Hacı Beşir Ağa Mosque. It is small, not particularly remarkable, but it is where we were explained how to behave in a mosque (believe it or not, I hadn’t been to one before!): there is an obligatory requirement to take shoes off and, for women, to cover their head with a scarf. The mosque itself was closed, and we could only look at its interior from the upper floor for women. What was interesting to see was a special chamber, where a believer would spend the night before having to make an important decision, praying for Allah to send them a clue in a dream.

Next followed one of Istanbul’s main features – which became especially famous after the Magnificent Century TV series – the Topkapi Palace. It is constructed on the first of the seven hills of Istanbul and dominates the surrounding area. As we entered the very first room – if I remember correctly, it was the Imperial Council, or Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn – we immediately understood why the Dolmabahce Palace, despite all its pomp and splendour, didn’t cause a storm of delight. The domes, the paintings and the décor of Topkapi are much stricter, more harmonious and, one might say, more majestic. What I see here is spirituality vs. Dolmabahce’s depersonalised grandeur. And all this despite the fact that this palace’s harem was not included in our tour.

There are four gardens in the palace complex – the first two are external, while the third and fourth are internal, and the latter was only reserved for the closest members of the sultan’s household. Photography is allowed in many parts of the palace, but not in rooms with expositions – which is a shame, given that they contain the most interesting things!

First of all, there is a magnificent collection of clocks and watches – both from Turkey and Western Europe, from small pocket watches to tall grandfather clocks. Next, there is an extensive collection of weapons – mostly local Ottoman ones (such as firearms, bows, swords, yatagans, chain armours, shields, helmets, including those for horses), but also trophy and gifted weapons. For us it was particularly interesting to see Safavid weapons among the last (or maybe the penultimate!): who knows, it may have been my ancestors who used it! At the same time, we couldn’t help having a strange feeling, that today we are walking around this exposition and looking with great interest at something that once presented a mortal danger and was created to kill people.

The next exposition consists of huge kitchen premises, which were used for preparing food for six thousand people. And nowadays they contain a collection of ceremonial tableware and kitchen utensils. We found the latter more interesting, since they are functional, as for tableware — well, it’s just tableware!

We were really impressed with the collection of religious relics – at one point the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire extended over Mecca and Medina, making it inherit the status of the caliphate, as well as Jerusalem. Not surprisingly, it was in its capital that a collection of items belonging to the prophet Muhammad (weapons, personal belongings, even beard hair and teeth) and his closest entourage, as well as other prophets — for example, the staff of Moses and the sword of David — was collected.

We also really liked the library of Sultan Ahmed III, in the midst of which there is the sultan himself (well, obviously a figure!)

The last exposition we got to see contained the portraits of all the sultans, but this one was probably the least interesting. From the palace, where we spent about two hours, we went straight to lunch, which was very well organized. In general, the impression is that restaurants in Istanbul are often placed on the top floor of a hotel to provide a beautiful view. So there we sat, eating delicious mezes and kofte, drinking tea and admiring the views of Istanbul and the seagulls proudly sitting on the roofs.

After lunch, now in a bigger group, we headed to Hagia Sophia. This place is truly unique, bringing together values that are almost incompatible by modern standards. Outside, it is very clearly visible that the minarets are attached to a Christian church. However, the building itself does not look particularly outstanding. Looking ahead, I will say that the Blue Mosque, located directly opposite, is much more beautiful on the outside.

However, the interior of Hagia Sophia is stunning. Despite crowds of tourists – as always, mostly Chinese – you get a feeling of extraordinary holiness and admiration for the fact that the images of Christ, the Virgin Mary, the first Roman emperors and the symbols of Islam peacefully coexist in this place.

In fact, this has not always been the case. At first, Sultan Mehmed II, who conquered Constantinople, simply ordered the main Christian cathedral to be turned into a mosque, covering the Christian images with plaster. They weren’t cleared until 1935, when by a decree signed by Ataturk, Hagia Sophia became a museum.

The happy free cats of Istanbul feel great here as well, causing a smile, which somewhat dilutes the sublime feelings evoked by the place.

The Blue Mosque, aka the Sultanahmet Mosque, as already mentioned, is very beautiful outside. It has as many as six minarets (usually, there are one, two or four). But unfortunately, there was almost nothing to look at inside – there is renovation going on, so, for instance, the dome is completely covered. Since, unlike Hagia Sophia, this is a functioning mosque, there are a separate entrance and exit for tourists, who therefore have to carry their shoes with them in specially provided plastic bags.

To finish with the mosque topic, I will say that there are more than two thousand of them in Istanbul. This seems like a huge number, but is actually normal for 20 million people.

We had thought that the Hippodrome – our next destination – was a visit to some ancient sports facilities or its remnants. It turned out to be even more than just remnants, located right here, at the Sultanahmet Square: there is only one Egyptian obelisk and two Greek columns, one of which is made of weapons and armour of the defeated Persians.

And finally, the last destination of our tour is the Grand Bazaar, or Kapalı Çarşı. The visit was preceded by a meeting with experts of Turkish carpet weaving, which we had in the Istanbul Handicraft Centre not far from the Bazaar. They treated us to apple tea, piled up a bunch of carpets in front of us and explained the difference between the local and, say, Persian technique(double knots instead of single ones). Of course, this was done with an eye to enticing us to purchase carpets, but no one in our group was willing to. At least us, the Azerbaijanis, could hardly be tempted by carpets.

We had 40 minutes to explore the Bazaar itself, but in fact that was more than enough. Frankly speaking, yesterday’s Spice Bazaar impressed us a lot more, because Kapalı Çarşı, although of course much bigger, seemed less beautiful and more chaotic. We walked through one of the galleries back and forth and found that this “drop” was enough to appreciate the entire “sea” of the Grand Bazaar.

Moreover, even though the day had been very interesting, it had also been exhausting, so our bus, which accurately dropped us off at our hotel, seemed to be the most tempting place.

We were so tired that for dinner we found a restaurant literally around the corner from our hotel, and made a right choice: it was very nice and cozy with delicious food and great service.

English, Europe, Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul – Day 1

Posted on February 21, 2019March 1, 2019 by travellingleila

РУССКОЯЗЫЧНАЯ ВЕРСИЯ ПО ЭТОЙ ССЫЛКЕ. CLICK HERE FOR RUSSIAN VERSION.

03 February 2019

Surprising, but fact – I am a person who has seen quite a few countries, including far ones, but has never been to the neighbouring Turkey. Yet, every self-respecting Azerbaijani, who has the opportunity to travel abroad, has definitely been there. So I finally decided to fill this unforgivable gap, and here we are, flying to Istanbul!

The flight begins with mixed feelings: there is no online check-in, which is bad, but we end up without a seat neighbour, which is good; our seats are at the very rear of the aircraft, which is bad, but breakfast starts being served from the tail of the cabin, which is good. First we are flying over mountains – underneath us there is the majestic Caucasus, with its dazzling snowy peaks! – and then mostly over the Black Sea.

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The Istanbul Ataturk Airport is definitely worth a mention – the speed and the quality, which we observed while going through all the necessary stages of arrival, really impressed us. Such a contrast with, say, Heathrow, where you hang around for a good hour in an extremely slow queue at the passport control. The queue here isn’t any shorter, if not longer, but it’s moving speedily and cheerfully all the time.

At first glance, Istanbul didn’t strike us with anything extraordinary. We are going in a taxi, on our right side we see the Marmara Sea, and on our left side there are some buildings, not very expressive ones.

Our hotel is located in the Pera district in the European part of the city, and is literally a stone’s throw away from the central pedestrian street Istiklal Caddesi. In general, we were advised – and we also advise this in our turn – to choose a hotel in this particular part of the city, and definitely not in the Old Town, where most of the tourist attractions are. In fact the Old Town area is only lively during the daytime, while Istiklal Avenue and its surroundings provide the tourist with everything they need – food, drink, shopping, entertainment – at all times of the day and night. View from our hotel window:

So Istiklal Avenue is where we start exploring Istanbul today. Our hotel’s location is such that if you walk a kilometre to the left, you will get to Taksim, and if you walk one (plus a bit more) to the right, you will reach the Galata Tower.

We first turned left. A historic tram line passes through Istiklal Caddesi, and this is the street’s only transport, apart from cleaning vehicles and police cars, which, by the way, also try to drive along the tramway track so as not to disturb pedestrians very much. For people from Baku, the best description of Istiklal Avenue is that it’s Istanbul’s “Torgovaya”, only a very long one.

We are surprisingly lucky with the weather today: despite it being February, it is so warm during the daytime that we have to take off our outerwear every now and then. When we sit down on a bench on Taksim Square, the sun is literally scorching. The square itself does not seem very cozy. We sat there for a bit and looked at a mosque under construction, at the “Republic” monument with sculptures of Ataturk and other marshals, including the Soviet marshal Voroshilov, and then turned back to Istiklal Caddesi, more interested in the tram, with roller skater boys clinging to it, than in the square itself.

Walking Istiklal Street is very pleasant. We are eating wonderful roasted chestnuts, which are sold at every corner, and dondurma – the special stretchy Turkish ice cream, which the seller scoops onto cones, using a long-handled paddle, and turning the whole thing into a real show.

A separate paragraph should be devoted to the cats of Istanbul. There are lots of them, and this is the only place I have seen where cats are as beautiful as in Baku, but here they are loved and cherished much more. Almost every store or restaurant has food and drink bowls for cats, and often even a special little cat house. However, the most audacious cats prefer to settle in a chair right inside. There are quite ordinary-looking cats, and there are also simply outstanding examples of fluffiness and fatness. Dogs can also be found, though less often; all of them are microchipped and seemingly contented.

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What’s also interesting on Istiklal Caddesi is that there are quite a few Christian churches. We walked into one – the Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua, and, as it seemed to me, there were quite a few Turks praying in it, although I could be wrong.

We reached the Galata Tower quite unexpectedly – for some reason I had the impression that it was in the opposite direction, and then suddenly we saw a signpost. It was about 5pm, and at first we decided to wait for the evening to take pictures of the tower in the evening light, and then thought that instead of idly waiting around we might as well go up to the observation deck (previously we were planning to do it tomorrow). The queue (maybe it’s a property of all the queues in Istanbul!), despite its impressive length, was moving rather quickly. We wondered if there was a lift inside the tower, or if we would have to climb a spiral staircase. There was a lift, yet we still had to climb the last two floors.

I must say that a moderate wait in the queue and a dizzy climb up the eerie stairs were totally worth it. The view of Istanbul from all sides is magnificent! A special feature are the large seagulls, which land on stone balls from time to time, right at arm’s length, and observe the city, looking very smart and important. Obviously, just like the tourists here, they are admiring the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn Bay, the famous mosques in the Old City. The only slightly annoying bit is that there are too many people on such a narrow rim of the tower, especially when not everyone is following the instructions to move only clockwise, which leads to chaotic cramming.

The tower also offers another entertainment – a simulation of a helicopter flight, which we didn’t find tempting though. However, we were taken a ton of pictures of, wearing historical costumes of harem dwellers. The poster advertising this attraction beckons you with a price of 30 liras (about 6 USD) per photo, but the ingenious photographer takes so many beautiful photos, with a variety of props, that you almost unwittingly end up forking out a lot more. But we still liked it!

To make sure we do get to see the Galata Tower in the evening light, we decided to have dinner in a restaurant directly opposite it. The weather and the heaters allowed us to sit comfortably outside (in February!) As for the restaurant, what can I say? Delicious kebabs, excellent service.

mde

Asia, Chiang Mai, English, Phuket, Thailand

Thailand – Day 7

Posted on May 22, 2018 by travellingleila

РУССКОЯЗЫЧНАЯ ВЕРСИЯ ПО ЭТОЙ ССЫЛКЕ. CLICK HERE FOR RUSSIAN VERSION.

24 March 2018

This post is also supposed to turn out short, as well as devoid of any particular enthusiasm. But anyway, the morning started pretty well. We got up, had a slow breakfast at the poolside (by the way, the breakfast in Chiang Mai is leading so far, compared to breakfasts in other cities: there’s more variety, the food is tastier and the place looks more pleasant overall), and went for a walk to the Old Town on our own.

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Basically, just as during our evening walk with the guide, we didn’t discover anything particularly remarkable in the Old Town. Well, there is a medieval city wall, but I’ve seen better walls. Otherwise, there are lots and lots of temples at literally every step – I think, Chiang Mai has around 300 of them, in fact, that is what it’s famous for.

On the way we noticed an interesting procession. First we saw school-aged boys in identical white clothes. They were followed by girls, in the same type of clothes, only with skirts. Then we saw young monks of the same age in monastic robes of the same white colour. There were also occasional adults, dressed normally, but all carrying beautifully folded orange cloth in their hands – it looked as if they were carrying robes for monks as a gift. Some schoolchildren were carrying some flags or portraits of the king and members of the royal family. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to figure out what kind of event that was and where they were all heading.

We didn’t get to do a long walk, as it became very hot, so we returned to the hotel, packed and came downstairs to the lobby to wait for our driver for our airport transfer. Kudos to the driver, he arrived exactly on time – it’s not for nothing that we liked him (moreover, in the driver-guide tandem, he was definitely our favourite).

The flight to Phuket itself was on time and went fine. But at the airport there was a surprise waiting for us – or rather, there wasn’t anyone waiting for us at all. Based on our experience working with this travel agency, this came completely unexpected, as neither in Vietnam, nor in Thailand so far had we faced such issues. We tried calling the agency, but no one responded – it was Saturday, after all. To our great luck, though, we had a business card from Vanna, our Bangkok guide. We called her, she followed up, and it turned out that there was someone waiting for us after all, but he didn’t have our names written on the paper, or maybe forgot about us completely. By the way, he wasn’t a personal guide, but merely a representative of the transfer company, and, having made us wait for some more time, finally organised a car with a driver for us. In total, we had to wait for at least 45 minutes. Honestly, it wasn’t the most pleasant experience, because while our Vietnam trip had left us with the impression that we were much better off taking a tour than if we’d organised the trip ourselves, in a situation like this we definitely felt that it would have been way easier for us to just get a taxi and not spend ages waiting.

As for tomorrow’s cooking class, no one left us any instructions either. Once again, many thanks to Vanna, who came to our rescue and found out everything: who would pick us up and when.

As a result, we arrived at the hotel already in the dark, and didn’t get to see much. The beach is right across our hotel, and there seem to be many different restaurants around. We wend to one of them straight away to have seafood and really enjoyed sitting on the terrace overlooking the sea (in the dark). The prices in Phuket are significantly higher than elsewhere and apparently, the restaurant itself wasn’t cheap as well. By the way, alcohol is relatively expensive throughout Thailand. A glass of wine or a cocktail here will cost the same as a main dish, if not more.