Istanbul Round III - Topkapi Palace

Taken at Sunrise from the Bosphorus and 'borrowed' from Wikipedia

Jarrad had warned us that the Topkapi Palace, which sits on the point of the Golden Horn overlooking the southern entrance to the Bosphorus would take a full day. So right after breakfast we wondered down there and got at it.

A scale model of the palace complex also 'borrowed' 

Built in 1459 by Sultan Mehmed II, the guy who conquered Byzantine Constantinople, it became the major residence of succeeding Sultans for almost 400 years until 1856 when they started building new, more modern palaces along the Bosphorus.

These are a few shots I was either allowed to take or did not get caught taking. Lavish in every centimeter of these buildings. Elaborately decorated tiles, marble, brass, gold leaf, porcelain, robes, weapons, shields, armor, Islamic calligraphic art, murals, Ottoman treasures and intricately designed jewelry from the four corners of the globe, much of it gifts from foreign leaders sucking up to the new conquerors

The reason for Jarrad's warning was that at one time the palace accommodated as many as 4000 people and contained mosques, a hospital, bakeries, a mint and most interestingly a harem where there were anything up to 500 concubines, hand picked from the community and specially trained for the Sultan's pleasure.... fit bloke! Five or so were then selected to bare his princes. No mention of princesses....

The Sultan's mother was in charge of the Harem and it was tightly guarded by eunuchs. (Men who had been castrated)

It is a museum now, contains some pretty interesting stuff like Moses' staff and Mohamed's beard. Yeah.... right.

Photographs were forbidden in many places but in one case, in a place where I genuinely thought they were allowed, I took a photo and within seconds, no more than a whisper in my ear I hear "no photo's" and he was gone....

After 4 hours of queuing for most things, we were hungry and the kids were waning so we decided to go and get some lunch. Nothing inside the palace grounds so we hung onto our audio guides and headed for the exit..... Embarrassing!

As we got to the exit, the audio guides are programmed to go nuts... and all four of them went nuts. Luckily the providers took them back saying we could have them back when we returned, free of charge.

After lunch we left the kids at the hotel to rest because Sal had a big night planned for the four of us. We returned to go through the Harem....

That is the very 'busy' looking complex at the top left of the scale model above.

Easily the most interesting part of the complex. This is the Sultan's entrance. He was the only person allowed in and he always arrived on horseback. He would mount his horse from a special plinth at the entrance and ride in along the pebbled runway you see here. It was specially laid so his horse wouldn't slip.

This experience provided a much clearer understanding of the Islamic culture and its attitude towards females. It made me realise that it is going to take a very long time before any sort of equality is achieved, if ever. Right now it seems to be headed in the opposite direction.

That evening Sal had arranged an evening of dinner and belly dancing at Sultana's in Taksim with the "Worlds Best and Most Famous Belly Dancer - Didem!" The food was great, the belly dancing was simply amazing but the "all you can drink" wine was undrinkable...

Now, if you're looking for a way to lose a few inches around the midriff or strengthening your core, watch this video... Summer Amy Belly Dancing and crank up the volume..