Hello Hivers and travelers! Today, I continue to document on the blockchain my trip to Istanbul at the end of 2019.
And it's time to share some notes of our visit to one of the must-see sights when visiting Istanbul for the first time, the Topkapi Palace.
This palace was the residence of sultans during the Ottoman Empire. And it is located very close to Sultanahmet Square.
On our visit, we spent half a day touring the courtyards and some of the buildings that make up the palace. But I can tell you can easily spend almost the whole day if you want to visit everything.
We purchased the tickets to enter the palace at the ticket booths located in the first courtyard. While we were waiting to buy them, we saw a couple of guards on horseback passing by.
Tickets in hand, we entered the second courtyard of the palace through the Gate of Salutation.
The large Gate of Salutation, also known as the Middle Gate (Turkish: Orta Kapı), leads into the palace and the Second Courtyard. This crenellated gate has two large, pointed octagonal towers. Its date of construction is uncertain; the architecture of the towers appears to be of Byzantine influence. An inscription at the door dates this gate to at least 1542. Source
During our visit, we visited several of the buildings that make up the palace and which are distributed around the different courtyards.
I don't have photos of all of them. And I seem to remember, in some of them, photography indoors was not allowed.
We visited the imperial treasury collection. Also, the building where the palace kitchens were, and there was a collection of utensils and crockery used during the Ottoman Empire.
I also remember that we visited the Imperial Council Chamber. And in the photo below is the entrance to this building.
But one of the most impressive parts of the palace is undoubtedly the Harem. It was the residence of the sultans and their wives. To visit the Harem, we needed to buy a separate entrance ticket.
Many of the rooms are not open to the public, and many are under restoration. However, we could visit some of the rooms and see the lavish decorations.
The harem was home to the sultan's mother, the Valide Sultan; the concubines and wives of the sultan; and the rest of his family, including children; and their servants.[74] The harem consists of a series of buildings and structures, connected through hallways and courtyards. Every service team and hierarchical group residing in the harem had its own living space clustered around a courtyard. The number of rooms is not determined, with probably over 100, Source.
Among all the rooms we were able to visit, it was one of the Sultan's bathing rooms.
This was one of the inner courtyards of the Harem that was open to visitors.
And here is a closer look at the exterior of one of the apartments of the Harem.
After the visit to the Harem, we continue our tour through the courtyards of the Palace, visiting some of the other buildings, such as the Library of Ahmed III.
From the outer gardens of the Palace, there are magnificent views of the Bosphorus.
And one of the many things you can see from this point is the Haliç Metro Bridge, also known as Golden Horn Bridge.
After a short walk through the gardens, we leave the palace grounds through the first courtyard. On the way out, we pass by the Hagia Irene building, a former orthodox church.
It was used as an arsenal for storing weapons until the 19th century. The Hagia Irene today operates as a museum and concert hall. Source.
We leave the palace using the imperial gate. Crossing it, we come across the Ahmed III Fountain. And from that point, we walked a few meters to reach Sultanahmet.
This is how our visit to the Topkapi Palace went, and it is for sure one of the places to not miss when visiting Istanbul for the first time.
Thank you for reading!
All images and writing are my own unless otherwise stated.
All photos were taken during our visit to Istanbul in December 2019 with an iPhone 7 and a Canon EOS 60D.
© CoquiCoin
August 26, 2022