Day 210, Tuesday August 20, 2019
“Istanbul … the constant beating of the wave of the East against the rock of the West.”
-Susan Moody
Sites Covered in this Post
• Topkapi Palace
• The Grand Bazaar
• Galata Tower
• Dolmabahce Palace
• Lost in Istanbul
Lesson Learned:
Topkapi Palace
Topkapi Palace was built between 1460 and 1478 by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror six years after the conquest of Constantinople. In the 15th century, it served as the main residence and administrative headquarters of the Ottoman sultans. It was given the name Topkapi, meaning Cannon Gate, in the 19th century.
If you thought the Blue Mosque was busy, hold your horses, the Topkapi Palace doubles or triples the number of visitors. Come early, or don’t come at all. The buses are lined up out front dropping tourists 40 at a whack. I can imagine there are at least 50 bus loads of tourists here between 10 AM and 4 PM. There are lots of interesting things to see, but you may decide to skip the palace in order to walk the streets of Istanbul.
After the 17th century, Topkapi gradually lost its importance. The sultans of that period, or perhaps their wives, preferred to spend more time in their new palaces along the Bosphorus. In 1856, Sultan Abdulmejid I decided to move the court to the newly built Dolmabahçe Palace, which in my opinion was a fine idea.
The palace complex is located on the Seraglio Point, a promontory overlooking the Golden Horn, where the Bosphorus Strait meets the Marmara Sea. The terrain is hilly (but no more than any other part of Istanbul) and the palace itself is located at one of the highest points close to the sea. During Greek and Byzantine times, the acropolis of the ancient Greek city of Byzantion stood here.
The Imperial Harem (Harem-i Hümayûn) occupied one of the sections of the private apartments of the sultan; it contained more than 400 rooms. These apartments (Daires) were occupied respectively by the harem eunuchs, the Chief Harem Eunuch (Darüssaade Ağası), the sultan’s wives (2, 10, 50? Who knows) the concubines, the queen mother, the sultan’s consorts, the princes and the favorites. There was no trespassing beyond the gates of the harem, except for the sultan, the queen mother, the sultan’s consorts and favorites, the princes and the concubines as well as the eunuchs guarding the harem. This place was almost as exclusive as Augusta National Golf Club.
I never saw any estimates on how many wives and concubines these Sultans had. Just the thought of having dozens of wives, and mistresses, living in the same house with your wives, hundreds of children, and your mother on the premises makes me wonder why the Ottomans didn’t practice Hari Kari like the Japanese. This just gives me a headache.
The Grand Bazaar
Our first day out in Istanbul was Sunday. That’s a great day to hit many of the historic landmarks of the city. Maybe because its turnover day for many of the tour groups. One group leaves, and another arrives, so lots of venues are lightly attended. Sunday is a lousy day to visit the Grand Bizarre because its closed more tightly than the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Any other day of the week, especially Saturday this place is alive.
The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops on a total area of 30,700 square meters, attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. It’s a lot of people. This place is always busy, except on Sundays. In 2014, it was listed No.1 among the world’s most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. I think half of them come by bus.
The construction of the Grand Bazaar’s core started during 1455, shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and was part of a broader initiative to stimulate economic prosperity in Istanbul. The broad outline of the market was firmly established by the 17th century, though they had to keep rebuilding the place due to fires and earthquakes. The first fire occurred in 1515; another in 1548, then in 1588, 1618, 1645, 1652, 1658, 1660, 1687, 1688 1695, and 1701. It was also rocked by a devastating earthquake in 1894. It’s obvious that fire safety wasn’t a high priority during the middle ages.
I’m pleased to report we witnessed no fires on our visit. I’m happy to say we didn’t purchase a carpet, spices, jewelry, perfume, silk, or a haram girl on this trip either. The market will be renovated and one problem corrected for the Bazaar, there are no public restrooms in the entire place. Makes you wonder where the 26, 000 people that work there take a whiz, doesn’t it?
Galata Tower
One of the nice things about staying in the Galata neighborhood in Istanbul is walking out the front door and looking up at the Galata Tower. The Tower is a medieval stone tower in the Galata/Karaköy quarter just up the hill from the Bosphorus Strait. It looks like a castle turret with a high, cone-capped cylinder that has a bird’s-eye view over the city skyline and offers a panoramic vista of the old city.
It’s a nine-story tower about 220 feet above the strait. It has an 54 feet external diameter at the base, and walls that are over 12 feet thick. There is a not-so-highly rated restaurant and café on its upper floors which have views of Istanbul and the Bosphorus. The lines snake around the tower from early in the morning, so get their as soon as you can, because the crowds move slowly. There are elevators, but I’m not sure how effective they are in moving the crowds up to the top.
Honestly, we went by the tower twice, but the lines were long enough to discourage us from lingering. It’s a great landmark for you if you walk around the city. You can almost see this place from everywhere.
The tower was built as Christea Turris (Tower of Christ) in 1348 during an expansion of the Genoese colony in Constantinople. Galata Tower was the tallest building in Istanbul when it was built. It was built to replace the old Byzantine tower (Megalos Pyrgos) which controlled the northern end of the massive sea chain that closed the entrance to the Golden Horn. That tower was destroyed in 1203, during the Fourth Crusade of 1202–1204.
One curious story about the tower is that in about 1632 Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi flew across the Bosphorus to the slopes of Üsküdar on the Anatolian side of the strait, nearly six kilometres away, using artificial wings to glide from Europe to Asia. Hezarfen’s brother, Lagari Hasan Çelebi, was the original Rocket Man, launching from the tower with a rocket in a conical cage filled with gunpowder in 1633. Take that Orville and Wilbur.
Dolmabahce Palace
If you don’t want to put up with the oppressive crowds of Versailles, leave France and take a tour of the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul instead. This place is just as opulent and grand a Louis’ place outside of Paris.
Dolmabahçe Palace was constructed by Sultan, Abdülmecid I between the 1843 and 1856. Previously, the Sultan and his family had lived at the Topkapı Palace, but as the medieval Topkapı was lacking in contemporary style, luxury, and comfort, as compared to the palaces of other European monarchs, Abdülmecid decided to build a new modern palace near the site of the former Beşiktaş Sahil Palace. Keeping up with the Jones’ started out as keeping up with the Euros. The palace cost five million Ottoman gold lira, or 35 tons of gold, the equivalent of ca. $1.5 billion in current cash. This sum corresponded to approximately a quarter of the yearly tax revenue of the Ottoman Empire back in 1843.
The palace is located in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, on the European shore of the Bosphorus Strait and served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1887 and 1909 to 1922. The place is enormous, beautiful, situated in a fabulous location, and is just an amazing piece of architectural eye candy.
The palace sites on 11.1 acres of waterfront property, and contains 285 rooms, 46 halls, 6 baths, and 68 toilets. Oh, and it has a clock tower in the front yard as well. The palace is strictly separated structurally in a Turkish Islamic style with a Selamlık, (quarters reserved for the men) which contains the public representation rooms, and a northern wing (Harem-i Hümâyûn, the Harem) serving as the private residential area for the Sultan and his family. The two functional areas are separated by the Ceremonial Hall with a floor area of 22,000 square feet and a 118 feet tall dome. There are numerous other structures on the property, so I’d guess the total square footage of the palace must be closer to 100,000 square feet than the 22,000 feet listed.
If you come to Istanbul, you’ve got to put the Dolmabahce Palace on your list of places to see. Its time well spent, and its not crowded. We loved it and probably spent about an hour just sitting on a bench watching ships cruise by and enjoying the Istanbul weather. The worst thing about the palace is they won’t let you take pictures inside the buildings. What’s the deal? I took pics in Versailles, Fontainbleau, the Louvre, King Tut’s tomb, and I even took pics inside Moulin Rogue. Get with the program, Turkey.
Lost in Istanbul
This is a truly walkable city. If you don’t walk it, that’s a terrible loss on your part. Istanbul is a huge city, which means that exploring the city on foot will surely present you with some new treasure around every corner. Enjoy a walk along the beautiful Bosphorus, explore the Golden Horn, find one of the many stunning historic structures, or meet some of the Turkish residents of this world-class city.
If you want to gaze at Istanbul from a completely different perspective, then cross over to the Asian side and stroll down the Moda promenade, where you can get a grand view of the European side. Moda is a lovely neighborhood, so check out all the great cafés, restaurants, galleries, and boutiques that this energetic neighborhood has to offer.
You can search the web and find guides to lead your walk, or a list of the top 10 walks of the city, or a list of must-see locations. I know what we enjoyed, I know what we saw, and what we missed. What we did not see, we either chose to skip, or decided we’ll have to visit on our next trip, because this will not be our last time to see this city.
My advice to you is to read up on the things to see, and then do what feels right. To us, getting lost is just the best way to explore Istanbul. This is our last stop on this 7-month saga before we head home to the USA. We have things to do back home, and it’ll be nice to sleep in our own bed once again. Besides, its almost time for football.
The one thing we know for sure is we aren’t done. We’ll be home for a new birth in the family, and take the time to plan our next get-away. Stay tuned. More to follow.