Wednesday, July 8th - Istanbul

Today Gillian was up early to go for her bus trip to Gallipoli.  She had to be downstairs and ready to go by 6:30 a.m. and she won't be back until about 10:30 p.m.  Randy was  up early as usual and I was the last one up.  

My main goal for the day was the Topkapi Palace so the plan was to be there when it opened at 9 a.m. and spend a leisurely half day touring around and enjoying the scenery.  As usual, the palace is beautifully located on a hill overlooking the water.  The views in every direction were quite spectacular from some of the courtyards, especially the Sultans.  

The palace was constructed by Fatih Sultan Mehmet (Mehmet the Conqueror) in 1748 and was the centre of the Ottoman Empire and the residence of the sultans for almost 400 years.  It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  And of course over the years it has been expanded and changed by the various sultans, and parts have been destroyed by fire, earthquake and battle, and then restored.

There are four main court yards and many buildings covering over 700,000 square meters.  At one point over 4,000 people were in residence at the palace and the complex included a hospital, schools, mosques, bakeries, mint, etc.  I paid to see both the palace and the harem, which was a separate charge.  Unfortunately a lot of the harem was being renovated and what was left wan not exactly spectacular.  Fortunately I did rent the audio guide so I could hear the story about what I was supposed to see;  At one point I took a picture of plywood floors and white washed plywood walls down a long hallway because that was all I could see.  I'm sure it will e even better in the future so I guess closing off some of it for a while is no big deal.  There were over 300 rooms, 9 turkish baths, 2 mosques and 1 hospital in the harem area at one point.  We saw maybe three rooms but I'm not sure how many the tour normally includes..

Being a little slow today I just visited the buildings and courtyards as I came across them.  Strategically it would have been much better to have gone straight to the treasury because that's where the real lineups started and it was crowded and slow going through.  Oh well, maybe I'll figure these things out by the end of this trip.  There were a lot of beautiful pieces in the treasury - everything from diamonds to medals to swords.   The 86-carat Spoonmaker's Diamond was pretty sparkly, as was the Topkapi Dagger.   I don't have the exact details of either but they definitely looked impressive. 

The kitchens were equally interesting.  They had a cooking area for the Sultan and a separate are for the rest of the people in the palace.  Often they cooked for 10 to 15,000 people, which I guess explains why the exhibit of china included several sets with 2,000 pieces or more.  There was also a silver exhibit, an armour exhibit, a portrait hall and a prized document display.  

Some of the rooms in the palace were large and impressive.  The palace not only took care of the sultan's family and harem and the top soldiers, but also served as the place for receiving foreign guests and dignitaries.  The whole complex is huge so I confess to getting a bit lost going through the buildings and trying to keep them straight.  Luckily, there are also lots of beautiful court yards and park areas so it was a nice mix for a visitor.  The Sultan didn't have it too bad either.  His views were the best of all as he could see just about all of the water ways of Istanbul.

On the way out I also stopped at the Aya Irini Aniti church.  It is very large with high domed ceilings.  Unfortunately it is yet to be restored but it is going to be amazing when completed, which I hope they are going to do.  They obviously have concerts in it now as they had a sign for orchestra males and females.  There is a curved staircase in dark wood that goes up two levels, and there is a balcony around the top.  I'm sure it was magnificent at one point in time.

Once I finally left the palace it was after 1 p.m. so I bought a cheese toast and some water and sat on a bench near the fountain in the shade watching the activities between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia.  It was a lovely setting and very relaxing.  After that I returned to the hotel to relax and blog a bit before heading out again.

Just after six we headed down to the Grand Bazaar - about a 15 minute walk away.  As expected some of the shops were closed for the day and others were closing.  The bazaar is in a huge covered area and looked quite deserted.  We walked down a few of the aisles but didn't buy anything.

We then started looking for a place to eat and it seems that everything in the areas wes very expensive.  Places were also set up for iftar and had reservations so if we wanted to eat we had to do it quickly.  We ended up back by the Hagia Sophia and had a very nice meal, altbeit rather expensive given the location.  By the time we finished eating all of the tables were set with appetizers and soup bowls and water, and once the call for evening prayers sounded everyone started to eat.  The park areas were again filled with families breaking their fast with with either food from home or from a restaurant.

Lastly, we bought some ice cream on the way home and enjoyed that while standing around the mile 0 sign post that used to be the starting point for measuring all distances from Constantinople.  2,200 km to Amsterdam and with a flight and a boat cruise it will only take us about three weeks to get there.  But for now we get to enjoy one more day in the beautiful city of Instanbul.