Istanbul Love - Topkapi Palace
The recent turmoil in Turkey and images on the screen brought back memories of the same streets we walked, laughed and ate our way through almost a year back. Here is installment II in our Turkey Travel Diary series!
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"Ok, so this is it!", was our joint exclamation as we had finally made it after so many years of contemplation. Our trip started and ended with days in Istanbul. For the first part, we made Sultanahmet our base. Our first day consisted of visiting the famous Topkapi Palace and the nearby Basilica Cistern.
TOPKAPI PALACE
One of the top rated sites of the city is the Topkapi palace and that was one of the first items on our agenda. A 10 minute walk through a small uphill cobbled street from our Airbnb led us to Topkapi Palace and the Harems, the erstwhile residence of the Ottoman Sultans. The palace like many other palaces underwent expansion over the centuries, which is clearly reflected in the architecture and in the interiors, especially the mosaics in the Harem.
Ornate ceilings on one of the main reception and prayer rooms in the Harem at the Topkapi Palace.
Throne Room of the Sultans were day to day proceedings took place. The ceilings are intricately painted in red and gold.
Over the years as the trends changed, the chambers reflected different styles. This ceiling is carved out of wood and the walls are adorned with Turkey's famous blue mosaics.
Tip: Visit the Palace early in the day before the crowds hit. The lines can be really long around mid-day. Harem has a separate entry ticket. Visit the Harem first and then go for the exhibits as time permits.
BASILICA CISTERN
The more we read and travel to ancient cities, the more commonalities we see between them. One of these being that each of these cities (especially the well planned ones) had massive structures that provided the people with fresh water. In India, it is the step-wells that were built in the dry and semi-arid Western part of the country and in Turkey it is the many cisterns built in ancient times to conserve and store water. The Basilica Cistern is one of the most famous ones.
The day we went to the Cistern was a very hot day outside and as soon as you walk down the steps into the bowels of the Cistern it's a good ten degrees cooler. We engaged an elderly gentleman guide near the ticket booth and what he lacked in English he made up more in charm and hand-waving (green laser pointer included!) as he showed us the architectural nuances of the structure. All in all a fun first day in the city.
The massive cistern is an amazing site to visit, given when it was built and all the considerations that went in to making this a working cistern for the city in ancient times.