Europe Archives - Page 4 of 5

Al-Andalus trip (Islamic Civilization trail)

10th October 2015 -

17 min read

I returned from Andalusia today with a big smile in my face, looking back to the experiences I had been through. I am still overwhelmed by all the Muslim history that actually was forcedly demolished and not so many people learnt. As Yasin put it ‘if you imagine europe continent as whole, andalusia was the only light can be seen, other countries were in the darkness”

I am glad that I am once again able to scratch what has been on my list for so long, visit Andalusia. This time is even more special because I could bring along my parents, plus my sister number 2. Little did I know back then that I could be able to trail Muslim history in Andalusia with my family member although for so long I have been dreaming to take my parents around, but I would not think it would be in this Pilgrim trip. Pilgrim because it is a journey to a holy place, where a lot of Islam milestone history written. For once they were so much ahead and ruled the world, through Europe. Yes.. Europe. Not so many are aware because Islam is merely associated with Middle East or Arab country. I am lucky that my dad is a very curious man with many knowledge who seems to know everything and try to find answers to his questions especially concerning our religion. I first acknowledges about the story of Andalusia from him. It makes me want to go to Andalusia so badly. I want to witness with my own eyes, the magical leftovers building from the glory of Islam more than 7 centuries ago. Gratefully, my parents are able to come a long. I am very happy to experience this together with them.

I booked the ticket months before the departure days. I managed to buy the ticket from Easy Jet for 150eur/ person, which is considered as a normal rate. We decided to stay in Andalusia for a week. A week is perfect because there are a lot of things we wanted to see and we would move from on city to another. Yet, a week is enough to make my parents not to have to jump here and there too much. I wanted them to still be able to enjoy the visit without being rushed with time constrains. After ticket booking, I tried to build the itinerary myself until I got recommended a halal tourist agency. This halal tourist called Eren tour, it is guided by a local who is fellow Muslim and what makes it special is that he studies the history of Islam in Andalusia area. They guy is named Yasin. The money we payed were worthwhile, since visiting alone without clear story in mind and with someone who could explain every little details on what were you looking at, were very much different. Moreover, the accommodation was convenient with Yasin’s car.

Day 1 & Day 2- SEVILLA
We arrived at 9.30 om in Sevilla after 2.55 hours flight went straight to our airbnb. Tips: If you know you would arrive on Saturday night to anticipate some supplies (because a lot of stores closed on Saturday and Sunday). We brought rices and snacks from the Netherlands. The next day on Sunday, we had breakfast and utilize our supplies, because as we assumed, all the stores were closed. We started the day at around 10.00. I was telling myself that no matter what happened, we needed to just enjoy the ride. Because the family time was more important. As a lot of places closed on Sunday, we just walked through the neighborhood and went to the city. The weather was perfect, 23 degrees, we went along the street with the help of the map then we continued with Sightseeing Bus. It was my first time going with hop on hop off bus, pretty remarkable 😀

Day 3 – SEVILLA- CORDOBA
This is long awaited day. We would officially start the Muslim trail journey with Yasin, the man of Eren Tour. Yasin picked us up in the big square nearby our place called Plaza del Salvador. First thing Yasin asked was if we already did went to Alcazar and Plaza de Spana. We were looking at each other, and said ‘we think so, but we did not stop‘. He said hysterically, “No, you have to go inside to have more insights“. Thus we ended up going there first before we drove to Cordoba. They said, Alcazar is the Chinese version of Alhambra. That is pretty funny. It indeed looks exactly like Alhambra, only much smaller. So many arabic carving on the walls, that I am proud of. I am amazed by the famous beauty of Andalusia in which actually created and built by muslim in the 7th century.
In the afternoon, I started feeling sick and weak since the morning, and got worse in the evening. Could not really enjoy the journey anymore, although I was still excited but my body turned exhausted really quickly. At night I decided to just be dropped home and stayed to get some rests hoping the next day I could start fresh.

Alcazar – royal palace in Seville, Spain, originally developed by Moorish Muslim kings. The palace is renowned as one of the most beautiful in Spain, being regarded as one of the most outstanding examples of mudéjar architecture found on the Iberian Peninsula.^[1] The upper levels of the Alcázar are still used by the royal family as the official Seville residence and are administered by the Patrimonio Nacional. It is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe, and was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site ( source: Wikipedia)

Mozaic pattern with arabic words in Alcazar

Looks like Alhambra patio, but smaller

Plaza de Espana: plaza located in the Parque de María Luisa (Maria Luisa Park), in Seville, Spain built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is a landmark example of the Renaissance Revival style in Spanish architectur^e

We continued driving to Cordoba and went inside the Cordoba mosque

Mosque/ Cathedral of Cordoba –
It originally was a Catholic church built by the Visigoths.When Muslims conquered Spain in 711, the church was first divided into Muslim and Christian halves. This sharing arrangement of the site lasted until 784, when the Christian half was purchased by the Emir ‘Abd al-Rahman I, who then proceeded to demolish the entire structure and build the grand mosque of Cordoba on its ground.After the Reconquista, it was converted to a Roman Catholic church, culminating in the insertion of a Renaissance cathedral nave in the 16th century.
Since the early 2000s, Spanish Muslims have lobbied the Roman Catholic Church to allow them to pray in the cathedral. This Muslim campaign has been rejected on multiple occasions, both by the church authorities in Spain and by the Vatican. (source: wikipedia)

Cordoba – Hamam

Where we had lunch in Cordoba, Yasin took us to the 1st halal restaurant in the neighborhood after islam was demolished.

Day 4 – Medinat Azzahra – Granada (Albayzin Village)

I woke up feeling much better after being sick for the past days. I think my body tumbled waiting for the right timing (read: when my parents and my sister around, so that they can take care of me) *winkwink* After all, I am the baby in the family. We left the memories in Cordoba and moved on to Madina Azzahra before going to Granada.

We arrived in Granada in the afternoon and went straight to the airbnb. Our stay this time was pretty remarkable and authentic, the owner said the place was built 300 years ago. It’s petite and looks super old indeed, my sister and I got a bit of bed bug bites LOL, fortunately she got her allergic paste so the feeling could have been worse.

By far, this is my favorite city, it’s like no others. It’s located in the mountain area, hence it’s hilly. The road is made of stones, the street is super small so it requires somebody’s expertise to drive there. And coincidentally, Granada is where Yasin lives, so he’s trained for it really well.
Unlike all of us, my mom had some difficulties climbing up, but all paid off every time she saw some places to shop. There was this Maroccon bazar alley that got her all excited. After arriving, we took a rest for couple of hours and then went out to the city center and caught some sunsets from Albayzin ( the village where we stay ) to look over Alhambra with its redness with the spot light from the sunset.

Day 5 – Granada (Alhambra)
Yasin arranged a guide in Alhambra because it was not allowed to bring guide from outside. Our guide named Tariq, he’s as old as my dad. I can see a fatherly figure on him. He explained the story properly. Alhambra is a royal house (not palace), total is 7km and without even realizing it, my mom made it from the beginning till the end. The power of mind and not knowing!

Alhambra (/ælˈhæmbrə/; Spanish: [aˈlambɾa]; Arabic: الْحَمْرَاء‎, [ʔælħæmˈɾˠɑːʔ], Al-Ḥamrā’, lit. “the red one”),^[a] the complete form of which was Calat Alhamra,^[b] is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It was originally constructed as a small fortress in 889 and then largely ignored until its ruins were renovated and rebuilt in the mid-11th century by the Moorish emir Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar of the Emirate of Granada, who built its current palace and walls. It was converted into a royal palace in 1333 by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada.^[1]
Alhambra’s Islamic palaces, as we know them today, were built for the last Muslim emirs in Spain and the court of the Nasrid dynasty. The decoration consists, as a rule, of Arabic inscriptions that are manipulated into geometrical patterns wrought into arabesques. Painted tiles are largely used as panelling for the walls.^[4] The palace complex is designed in the Mudéjar style, which is characteristic of western elements reinterpreted into Islamic forms and widely popular during the Reconquista, the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims by the Christian kingdoms.

Another highlight of that day, WE FINALLY FOUND FLAMENCO PERFORMANCE anddd for free!!! I trusted on my guts!

Day 6 – Orgiva – Alpujjara Mountain – Slobrenia – Malaga
Sacrifice day! We were lucky we could celebrate it here, in a total different environment. Yasin kindly promised to bring us to pray and celebrate eid in his village. I was so excited to see another culture of sacrificing day as well as to meet new people. I did not really know what to expect, yet turned out it was a small remote village. The people were super warm and welcoming. My dad and I used to watch a Canadian Serie called ‘The little mosque in the prairie‘ and it’s a total reality life in front of me. Everybody knows everybody. I met a woman, which apparently a SWEDISH. I was a little surprised wondering what she was doing in that small village. It is not a place that random people would prefer to stop and stay. We had a little conversation, this woman moved there because she achieves peace, she feels the love around her, so she wants to have another form of life surrounded by those local people. I saluted her, it is a brave decision.
After praying, we went to another village that looks like Greece with the white houses. A village that’s never been changed since first was built hundred years ago. Furthermore continue to eat fish in the beach side of the mountain. It’s another city called Slobrenia, not so many people go here except locals. So it was peacefully quite during our visit.

At 4pm, Yasin dropped us off in Malaga, our last stop in this trip. It’s sad that it comes the time to say goodbye to him. Not only that we will miss his smiles and stories, but also his capability of Spanish since no one speaks english properly in South of Spain hehe.

After arriving, we just went to the beach in the evening, had home-cooked meal for dinner, and took a good rest for the next day.

Day 7 – Malaga – Alcazaba and beach day
Malaga is a port city, very modern and surrounded by oceans. However, it still has some leftovers from the old Moorish times like some follows.

Day 8 – Sevilla airport

Total journey was a rip off to my pocket, but it is all worth it! Time to say see you later to this beautiful lowland with its histories. ¡Hasta luego!

Recommended tour: http://erentour.com/

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Europe Hungary

Budapest 28-31 May

13th June 2015 -

2 min read

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Europe Portugal

É realmente um bom tempo em Lisboa (It’s a really good time in Lisbon)

24th May 2015 -

10 min read

17-21 May

Buenos Dias! <Greeting in Portuguese>

Akhirnya saya menginjakkan kaki di Negara yang sudah lama duduk di list saya mengenai Negara yang wajib dikunjungi. Kebetulan bulan Maret 2015 lalu saya mendapat tiket yang relative murah untuk both ways (75euro/person) dengan maskapai Ryan Air. Pada saat itu sih lumayan bingung karena saya selalu ragu saat saya harus memutuskan untuk bepergian sendiri, terutama ke Negara yang belum saya kunjungi. Sebetulnya, mungkin jika Negara destinasi saya adalah Skandinavia atau Switzerland, saya akan merasa lebih aman. Tapi untuk Negara seperti Portugal, saya berpikir berkali-kali terlebih karena tidak diiringi doa restu oleh mama tersayang. Kenapa saya sempat mempertimbangkan untuk travel solo, karena lagi-lagi alasan klasik, susah sekali mencari partner yang bisa mencocokkan waktunya dengan waktu saya. Sedangkan masalah dari budget tiket adalah takut kehabisan, apalagi bulan Mei di Portugal adalah musim panas dalam arti yang sesungguhnya. Jadi saya yakin, orang-orang Belanda banyak yang ingin escape dan lari ke tempat yang lebih eksotis dan panas. Secara cuaca di Belanda masih teramat sangat labih dan cenderung dingin di musim yang seharusnya Spring ini.

Singkat cerita, saya bertanya kesana kemari karena saya tidak ingin melewatkan lagi kesempatan ini. Perlu diketahui, saya sudah beberapa kali menemukan tiket yang juga murah, bahkan lebih murah dari 75 euro. Tapi selalu lewat karena tidak ada satu pun yang bias diajak menjadi travel buddy.
Kali ini saya bersikeras untuk tidak melewatkkan tiket murah ini. Jadilah saya literally asking people around lewat whatsapp haha. Biarlah dianggap annoying, namanya juga usaha hahah.
Akhirnya Adrin (mantan housemate) mengiyakan. Wah saya senang sekali, langsung saya book dan buat plan sedetil mungkin (emak-emak type mode on).

Honestly, pada saat itu saya tidak berpikir panjang tentang bagaimana harus berkompromi dengan orang yang memiliki interest dan karakter yang berbeda. Saya cukup mengerti Adrin karena kita tinggal bersama selama kurang lebih 1 tahun. Dan kami adalah dua orang yang sangat berbeda, dia santai banget cenderung careless with what’s going on or let’s say spontaneous dan saya yang
plan-minded dan sangat organized . Sebenarnya basisnya cuma satu, karena engga mau rugi udah pergi jauh-jauh hahaha
Saya sekarang uda menjadi orang yang less uptight dari 5 tahun yang lalu, tapi tetep sih sedikit worried haha karena menurut pengalaman travelling, travel buddy adalah asset yang esensial. Disitulah kunci kebahagiaan atau kebetean. Yang saya persiapkan adalah mental yang fleksibel dan tanpa ekspektasi.

Walaupun susah bangun pagi dan agak pelan pergerakannya di pagi hari, Adrin adalah travel buddy yang tangguh. Dengan kondisi satu kakinya yang gampang lelah, dia minim mengeluh. Ketika dia bilang dia lelah, saya tahu perasaan lelah itu lebih dari yang saya rasakan. Disitulah saya menggunakan nalar toleransi saya dan berusaha mengerti. Saya salut sekali dengan semangat dia dan usaha kompromi dia dengan saya.
Pondasi kuat yang harus dibangun sebelum memulai perjalanan bersama adalah susah dan senang harus dilalui bersama-sama, juga menjadi orang yang fleksibel dan pengertian.. And it worked pretty well. I really appreciated her when in the last day I got sick (infected by her influenza virus), she tried to take care of me 🙂 I am very glad to have this experience, not only the chance to check out the beautiful creature in Portugal, but also ultimately to experience to understand her better.

Ini dibawah adalah foto2 selama di Lisbon.. Saya suka sekali dengan Lisbon dan Sintra, or I must say I’d love Portugal in general. Such a warm and beautiful country with kind-hearted beautiful people.
The tiles and pavements are everything. It appeared in my eyes as the soul worked for those artworks, which made it look extra more mesmerizing.

Calcadas: Black and white pavement who was placed in the past uniquely piece per piece

Pink street Lisbon – used to be a prostitution and cheap trash nightlife location, now it’s in the contrary and the pink paint is the symbol of the change

Sao Jorge Moorish Castle – Lisbon

Alfama

One of the prettiest Station in Europe. Glad I’ve been to some places which claimed as prettiest stations. This one is only pretty at night.

One of 8 coffee painters existing in Lisbon, we met on our way. Such a darling person, we bought some of his artworks (in the picture) and we were happy both ways smile emoticon

Hope to be back!!

Below is my little itinerary and tips:

Date	Time	Activity	Location
17 May 2015	15.50	Depart	Eindhoven Airport
17 May 2015	17.40	Arrive	Lisbon Airport
17 May 2015		To hotel, buy ticket in the bus (Bus 744 or 783)	Avenida António Augusto de Aguiar 42B, Lisboa, Portugal
17 May 2015		Dinner nearby the stay	Ask the homeowner
17 May 2015		Bairro alto
18 May 2015	08.30	Breakfast at Tartine	Ciado neighborhood, order sweet bread (always freshly made)
			ith butter and jam. Make sure you ask for “café Americano,”
			since a cup of coffee in Portugal translates into a single (very
			strong) shot of espresso.
			Rua Serpa Pinto 15A, Lisboa, Portugal
	10.30	São Roque Church the world most expensive chapel	Largo Trindade Coelho, 1200-470 Lisboa, Portugal.
	11.30	Lisbon’s Bertrand bookstore opened for business in 1732	(chiado neighbourhood) = R. Garrett, 1200-203 Lisboa, Portugal
	12.30	Lunch or visit A Brasileira” – One of the symbols of Lisbon. In the 19th	R. Garrett 120, 1200
		Century this Cafe was visited by well known writers. At the entrance
		you can see a statue of Fernando Pessoa, one of the most important
		Portuguese intelectual personalities.
	14.30	Sao Jorge Hills	Hop on one of the legendary old yellow trolleys lurching their
			way up the narrow streets of the hill.
			Tram: Miradouro Santa Luzia, line 28.
			Bus: Castelo, line 37.
		Alfama Neighborhood	Tram 28
	16.00	To Bairo Alto (tempat gaul paling keren di Lisbon)
	18.00	Cascais Beach and dinner there
	21.00	Go back to hotel
19 may 2015	08.00	Condé Nast Traveler Rossio Train station (Prettiest train station)	Calcadas (portuguese pavement), ticket in rossio station
			These bus services include the Sintra tourist route .
			(train station – Sintra town – Moorish castle – Pena Palace – train station)
			which is required by most visitors to Sintra and the bus services
			between Sintra to Cascais (Sintra – Colares – Cabo da Roca – Cascais)
			The adult ticket price is €12.00 but the Sintra Scotturb tourist bus is €7.75 on its own.
	09.00	Sintra (UNESCO)	idyllic town only a few miles west of Lisbon, is your perfect
			fairy-tale mountain escape.
		Pena National Palace	Estrada da Pena, 2710-609 Sintra
		Sintra National Palace	Largo Rainha Dona Amélia, 2710-616 Sintra, Portugal
		The Quinta da Regaleira is a 19th century extravagant	2710-567 Sintra, Portugal
		gothic mansion that was constructed by the richest man of Portugal.
		Moours castle
		Cabo de roca	the westernmost point in Europe: Estrada do Cabo da Roca s/n,
			2705-001 Colares, Portugal

20 May 2015	08.00	Breakfast and check out
		Pastei de Belem	Custard tarts since 19th century
		Torre de Belem	enjoy some live fado (some call it the soul music of Portugal)
			and local delicacies such as octopus salad and bacalhau
			com natas (oven-baked dried and salted codfish with onions,
			cream, and potatoes). A glass (or two) of red wine from the northern D
			ouro region in Portugal will make for the perfect finish to your day.
		BERARDO MUSEUM	Praça do Império, 1449-003 Lisboa, Portugal
		JERONIMOS MONASTERY	Praça do Império 1400-206 Lisboa, Portugal

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Europe Hidup di Belanda Netherlands

Giethoorn trip – a day before Ibnu going back for good

16th April 2015 -

5 min read

I have always been wanting to go visit Giethoorn. It’s a little village in the province Overijssel, East-Holland. It’s known as the Venice of Holland because of the fact that most of village part is water/lake. There used to be no transportation except boats, and looks like they are trying hard to keep it that way although now of course there are buses which can take us from Steenwijk (nearest big city) to Giethoorn. The disadvantage is that once you miss the bus, you will need to wait for 1 hour. Also, because Netherlands does not have the best climate habit in the whole world, it’s a little tricky to arrange a trip, because in Giethoorn, the nicest way is to rent a boat and ride it along the way under the sunshine while reading a book or even just contemplate. Imagine when it suddenly rains or wind storms, they enjoyment will stop just like a finger snaps.

Anyhow, that day was a really beautiful day, considered as one of the most beautiful day in Holland so far that I decided to take one day off. It is also because coincidentally Ibnu, one of our good friends were leaving to Indonesia for good and he also planned to go to Giethoorn that week. I guess universe really conspires when you really want something. I also brought a long my brother in this little trip, feeling good to enjoy and share happiness.

Thus here we are, in a very beautiful sunny day after travelling for 2.5 hours total. Walking through the canal, and found the second boat-rent we could find (cheaper than the 1st we saw in the entrance). We took the offer for 15 eur per boat/ hour, and we paid 30 eur as we want to chill for 2 hours to go further. Although, we ended up getting lost and near-to-death experience (AGAIN!) but this time I am exaggerated a little bit. It was actually hilarious that keeps cracking me up until this point. Fega was trying to take over the driving seat, of course we wanted everyone to experience the ‘captain’ moment. We just realized that not for once he had any experiences in taking a control of a vehicle, he can’t drive car nor motorcycle, thus he didn’t have the instinct of making the right/smooth maneuver on the lake. Not only that, but it was indeed confusing with the fact that turning right the stir means the opposite of where the engine moves. So couple of times he hit the side walk roughly but graciously, because he was so calm haha we kept on saying right right right, and he turned to left, we said reverse, he turned front (going forward, like stepping on the gas fully). Ibnu who was the frontman was couple of times almost having a heart attack, because the first person got hit will be him. But thank God we’re all okay. And we closed the day by eating a great waffle and dutch pancake.

Below pictures were all taken before the incident happened, happy faces….

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Europe Luxembourg

Weekend in Luxembourg

10th February 2015 -

7 min read

As I am doing my best to keep my journey on going, I said yes to my dear (another) Indonesian friend whose the dad is coincidentally my dad’s colleague in the University, when she asked about going to Luxembourg along with her friends. Her name is Retno, I call her Nok….

It’s just like a good sign, that this invitation came just in time when I asked her to escape somewhere in the weekend and pointed Luxembour especially as it’s not extreme far. She was like, aha I’ve plan to go to Luxembourg this weekend. I was like, uhm okay I did not really mean this weekend, it’s such a short notice and I am not a big fan of spontaneous thing like that. I am a well organized person, and I like to have control on things. So of course i did not say yes right away, I had to think, but then Hell yea, chance doesnt always come twice. Therefore, suddenly there I was on the train chatting.

We took the cheapest train via Germany, the ride duration in total was 7 hours (with 5 connection trains), exhausting! But this happy gank always keeps me laughing and happy. The ambience is always positive whenever surrounded by them. For me I had no problem waiting changing running to catch the train as long as I am with them.

We arrived at the Hostel on Saturday Feb 7th, at 16.00. What a looong journey, but the scenery passed were all beutiful, so not much to complaain about, only butt was a little numb 😛

One lesson learned, always bring backpack for this kind of journey!! Dont complicate yourself…

I did bring my huge canvas Tommy Care hand bag because I had to go to the work and I didnt want

to carry my unmatching eye catchy ugly backpack.

Frankly speaking it was not that bad because we were mostly on the vehicle, but in the second day we had to bring the luggage to the Vianden castle. This destination has to be reached by going up the hill which was fairly slippery caused of the recent snow. Thus, I had to focus on my step than my bag, guessing the guys feel pity of me and they decided carrying my bag. How dear! But i dont like to give my burden to other people, so next time backpack FTW.

Anyway Luxembourg is a small fancy wealthy country. It’s one of the tax haven countries along with Switzerland etc. The locals seem secure, financially and certainly safety. They are bunch of happy people in which they dont show and perhaps they dont know because they have had this kind of life ever since they were born. Main languange is Luxembourger (french+german+english), because they ade mixed of that culture and fraction of those countries altogether. However, aside of the tax haven country, it still has euro as currecny (unlike Switzerland), hence the normal price in food, baversges and acommodation. Comparing to the trip expense and flexibikity during Switzerland journey that I made in November, is pretty huge different. Around 150eur max, I spent.. It was worth it.

The trip with this people is always memorable. We didnt do very much due to time limitation we had, but I proved that the company you are with determines how valuable your journey is. And to get along with travel buddy is not simple because you have to be with them for 24hrs and sometimes when one does not want to compromise, fight and arguing could not be avoided. So when you find a compatible travel buddies, seize it.

We continued the first day by going to the area nearby hostel which happened to be old town. We went to so-called the balcony of Europe. Very beautiful. It’s like coming back to the 50s with such building. One thing I notice was, when the light was switched on, all town were covered in yellow lamps. I assumed, it must be governmant policy to have yellow lamp, because it really gives artistic and gothic feeling to the city. Unlike white color who looked modern and dashing. Furthermore, we had dinner at the Restaurant in old town city centre called La Boucherie. Luxembourg does not really have a typical culinary. It is mixed between German and French therefore they have all kind of French-styled appetizer including escargot and Rabbit meat. I was interested with Rabbit meat but I did not want to order for myself because I would feel guilty. So, I just tried one bite from my friend. It tastes uhm special… And it’s served cold, yuck! Cold meat is not my favorite thing to eat.

Let’s say, the dinner after all was great, nice food, coold place, and again, fun company 🙂

Below are frozen memories we had.

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Events Family Hidup di Belanda Milestone Netherlands

Quality weekend with Mom Dad

30th March 2014 -

7 min read

Minggu, 22.57 malam

Seperti biasa, weekend rasanya cepat sekali berlalu.. Sebodohnya ini terdengar, tapi saya pengen begadang sampai besok pagi demi memiliki quality time dengan saya sendiri dan demi punya waktu lebih panjang untuk berwiken. Nggak mau hari seninn.. hikshiks but hey reality strikes and will never experience what I have experienced this week if there is no Monday. *Cheering myself up

Anyway, it has been a good productive week for me and I should be really grateful for that. Hari Selasa, saya dan sahabat-sahabat dekat datang ke konser YUNA. Gosh, it was totally magical as I have been admiring her ever since I discovered her existence in this planet, back on 2010 if I am not mistaken. She has such a pure incredible voice, I guess she was born with such talent. She sings genuinely and what is more important for me is that she speaks her soul out. I consider one to be very lucky to be able to sing out her feeling beautifully.

It is such a great night that I will always remember. Especially, I got the chance to have a little conversation after concert with the star whom I fell in love deeper to due to her humbleness. I am very luckyy!!! Oh, and I got to take a picture together with her.. 🙂 Alhamdulillah

Left to right: Nadya (whom by accident I bumped into), Prita (it was her bday that day), YUNA, me, Alda

ps I held my tears when I was with those people, but when we said goodbye, I cried my heart out like a baby calling my ‘bestfriend’ to tell him how bad I miss him. It is wonderful how such a star could give an influence.

And this weekend is the last weekend my mom and dad will stay. I do not have the time to be sad as I merely want to focus on how to make them enjoy their last days, at least I wanted to take them to places they have never been. Moreover, these last 2 days, the weather has been amazing, temperature is very warm. I am very much grateful for that as it really determines their enjoyment and excitement of them in wandering around hihihihihi

I took them to a petite city nearby the city where I live. It is called Leiden. It is one of the oldest cities in The Netherlands, it is located on the Old Rhine. Back at the 18th century the won the first place as ‘superlative, I forgot what it is’ and offered a huge amount of money, however they were more focused on educating their local people, that’s why they bargained to build the Leiden University instead of having the money, which has become as top 50 university worldwide and took part on creating the first map for colonializing Indonesia. What an ironic story.
It was 20 degrees that day! super amazing.. bought an ice cream for Aqila 🙂 we are all happy nevertheless, although not everything we got to see as we were there already late that the cruise we wanted to ride was already gone. On Sunday, I took them to Amsterdam visiting Rijksmuseum, the first National Historical museum in the Netherlands. It is fulled by paintings of amazing artists, mainly Dutch, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, etc. Surprising thing acquired from this visit is that now I know a lot of arts movement particularly in the Netherlands, was inspired by the Art Nouveau (new art) from France, which was influenced by Japanese, which mainly got an effect from INDONESIAN ART. We’re steps forward back then!
But hey even though nothing is perfect and not everything came as expected, the most essential thing is, we enjoyed and cherish the moment. What’s the meaning of a vacation if we’re rushed by the time, is the journey and the enjoyment that matters.. Every time passes is permanent, why not seize it instead 🙂 Carpe diem.

Dad and Aqila are using the binocular in the middle of a impeccable view between lake and mill

In front of a Dutch typical home, yet it was decorated more in an artsy and colorful way

Spring has sprung.. Such a beautiful color

Me standing with my javanese face among lots of Nias islanders’ faces during colonial period 🙁

My kind of painting, me with Aqila who wanted to stick with her Tante that day

With mommy on NS train towards Amsterdam. Will miss this ‘bawel’ lady 🙁

Us on top of the windmill De Valk, Leiden. Awesome place!

Again, me and Aqila (who keeps being a photobomb in any of the selfies I tried to take that day hehe), this one is inside an old windmill (de Valk) who was built in 1611. The stairs were terrifying, but we (a 4 year old and a pair of 60s people) gratefully made it hihi deg2an pisan euy

Currently enjoying days with loved ones… counting the days before their departure.

Love them! I am happy that I could bring smiles upon their face although just a little 🙂

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Europe Turkey

Topkapı ve Ayasofya

18th December 2011 -

3 min read

It is called Topkapi Palace (Topkapı Saray in Turkish). This huge building was built in the Ottoman Empire, around 14th century, ordered by Sultan Mehmed II. It is the major historical place in Istanbul as it was the first palace of Sultans, as well the major tourist attraction nowadays.

There is a room attracted me the most. This room was built to keep Sultan’s gift given by foreign ambassador, Kings, Queens, and any important people from around the world. Yet these days, it is transformed with the purpose of keeping stuff with deeply special meanings related to holy relics from Moslem’s history, such as Prophet Muhammad’s hair, beard, sword, cloak, and other things from his body during war back then. As well as other Prophet’s weapon and Moses’s magic cane 🙂 I feel so blessed to able to get the chance to experience this and saw it with my bare eyes, moreover together with my parents. Alhamdulillah….
My dad told me a lot about Moslem history that day.

Ayasofya were used to be a Orthodox church but converted to be a beautiful mosque 1453 when Constantinople was conquered by Ottoman empire under Sultan Mehmed II . On my picture, you could see both Jesus painting on the ceilings, with Allah and Muhammad lettering alongside. This should be a bridge in creating a great perfect relation between Moslem and Christian, and other religions as well.

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Europe

Guests

3rd December 2011 -

3 min read

Everyone is coming to visit me in Turkey. So happy, Alhamdulillah…

This time will be minus my brother and his wife. But well, nothing I can do. I am grateful enough to be able to gather in such new country for us, Turkey.

It’s unplanned journey but somehow they all will encounter here with different departure-arrival dates. Couldn’t be happier.

However, I currently have a guest. She is the daughter of my house-parents here. She’s such a nice lady….

We went all the way down to Taksim square, Blue mosque (Sultan Ahmet), Hagia Sophia, Eminonu and Grand Bazaar.

pssst she doesn’t like Turk Salata (Turkish Salad). I assume, most of Indonesian would not like it. It’s just vegetables poured by lemonade, salt, pepper, olive oil, and that’s it. But I like it thou :p I think my tongue has been turned into European.

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Europe Turkey

Princess Island (Buyuk Ada)

3rd October 2011 -

5 min read

Back with Turkey edition. Yay !

It has been a great time and Turkey has been really treating me nicely in every way except with the bizarre guy situation that followed me the other day. But well, this thing happens, or else I wouldn’t own a Ha-Ha moment to tell my kids. lol

Last weekend was pretty exciting to me. I have been wanting to explore the whole Istanbul which is unbelievably huge with its uncountable historical places.

So me and my so-called erasmus gang that are actually down for the similar passion, decided going on Princess Island (Buyuk Ada, in Turkish) tour by ourself, with 5 of us.

The adventure began with me shipped by ferry to another port, Kadikoy, to pick up another passengers living in another side of Istanbul (Asia side) whilst I’m living in the European part.

There I intendedly met with Svenja, this nice German girl. The ship took 1,5 hour to get us there. We were talking and talking from school stuff and the world’s recent issues. And suddenly it was a conversation with 3 others additional members. They are Turkish guys who happened speak English properly (Good!), because most of Turkish people don’t speak it. We shared our live in Istanbul, so did they. They are super nice, smart and friendly (typical Turkish). I love meeting a new people, it’s called networking. I’m doing business study, so it’s important too 😉

Princess Island contains of 4 different island that has their own uniqueness. We went to the 4th island (forget the name), this one is the biggest and most popular. Polluted transportation isn’t allowed in the Island. Thus, Svenja and I rented a bike for 12.5 TL, which actually we found afterwards that we could even get it for 5 TL. But well, 12.5 is not so much and it’s kind of worth renting.

We climbed the hills up and down. Obviously the down part was heaven, I felt like flying and remind me how I love biking. But when it comes to pedal the bike up, my energy was absorbed. I still hurt my crotch till now of biking 🙁 But all end up very worth it, I met the other 3 girls and we found this fantastic beach that enable us laying and enjoying the sun. Not crowded, very quite and peaceful. Felt like that was our private beach….. 😉 The vibe was just perfect!!

We had a great time.

It is October and we’re laying down the beach. How could you imagine that.

Life is good 🙂 Alhamdulillah….