We hadn’t been in a big city in months, so were a little bit overwhelmed. But Istanbul is absolutely breathtaking, with a waterfront view everywhere and the most beautiful mosques. Friends & fellow cruisers Jenny and Johan were flying home through Istanbul and we were thrilled to be able to meet up with them for a day before we went our separate ways.
First off was the Topkapi Palace. Built in the 15th century, the palace was home to sultans of the Ottoman empire through the ages. The complex is a series of buildings surrounded by courtyards, each progressively more secure and private. We headed straight to the harem, which was so enormous we could have spent the entire day there.
Western culture has a rather negative or at least sexualized view of a harem. The reality was that this compound had 300+ people living together, all in support of the sultan, and all ruled by the sultan’s mother. There was a tier system to the concubines, ranging from those who had relations with the sultan, to those whom he married, to those who bore him children. That doesn’t include the servants, the teachers (these women were very well educated), nor the guards.
The receiving rooms reminded me of the Ottoman houses we had toured in Gjirokaster, Albania. Clearly these were built for the rulers of the country, but even the houses hundreds of miles away in another country bore the same structure, albeit in a more modest way.
From the harem we headed straight to the treasury building, where all the jewelry was on display. Everything was extraordinary, but we were on the hunt for the jeweled dagger, which Trip remembered from the movie Topkapi that he saw when he was a teenager. Sure enough, after a bit of hunting, we found the prized dagger on display. The largest emerald in it is seven carats!!!!
We could have spent the entire day at the museum, but we had limited time and wanted to see more, so we headed up to the Blue Mosque. The mosque was closed at that time for private prayer, so we side tracked over to the hippodrome. Once the center of social life in the city, the hippodrome featured chariot races on a regular basis. The area is still wide open (amazing considering how congested the city is) and features the Obelisk of Theosdosius the Great from Egypt (3,500+ years old) and the Serpent Column (made from the melted-down bronze of the weapons of war).
And then it was into the Blue Mosque. Built in the 17th century in Ottoman times, it’s a masterpiece of domes and cascading semi-domes. The name comes from the the extent of blue used in the interior. Muslim law prohibits artists from painting anything living (animals or humans), as only God has the right to give life. That said, stone work as well as the painting simply takes your breath away. The mosques here are on par with any cathedral in all of western civilization.
We had a little bit of daylight and good weather left after all that exploring, so we headed to the rooftop terrace of a local bar for a glass of wine and to enjoy the view.
To cap off our evening, we walked down to the Golden Crescent for dinner. The bridge across the Bosphorus Strait is dotted with seafood restaurants, and we settled on one. After all the walking, it was nice to sit and relax with a good meal and some local raki (anisette liquor).
Our walk back to the hotel at the end of the evening had the New Mosque lit up.
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