Return to Istanbul – Topkapi Palace

Topkapi Palace was built in the 15^th century for the Ottoman Sultans, replacing the ruined Great Palace of Constantinople (destroyed by the Ottomans during their siege of the city). It is unique among palaces as being different from either European or Middle Eastern palaces. One of the draws for me was that it has a fully intact Harem! The palace also has lots of grilled windows and secret passages to allow the Sultan and his family maximum privacy.

Once we passed through the Imperial Gate, we were in the 1^st courtyard. There is a Mint and a small, Byzantine church, Haghia Eirene, in this courtyard. Several other buildings that used to be there aren’t any more. There is a fountain to the right, however, that was purportedly used by the executioners to wash their hands after performing a beheading. Lots of unsuspecting people were using it to refill their water bottles. Due to the heavy rain, I didn’t get a lot of outdoor shots unless I was under an arcade. Even then, with the torrent, many photos would have been of the rain and not what I was trying to see.

The gate from this courtyard into the next was called the Gate of Salutations. I thought it looked like part of a fairytale castle. Experts say it looks Byzantine. You can judge for yourself when you look at the photo included here.

Through this gate we entered the 2^nd courtyard. The Divan was where the Imperial Council met and had one of those grilled windows that the Sultan could hide behind and hear everything that went on there. In the photo, the grilled window is in the upper middle of the wall.

The entrance to the Harem and to the Imperial Kitchens (with utensils and porcelain on display) are also found in this courtyard, as well as the stables and one of the treasuries (at that time housing a collection of arms and armor).

The Gate of Felicity goes from this courtyard to the 3^rd. The Palace School was located here as well as the Audience Chamber, the Imperial Treasury, and numerous private apartments and special chambers. In order for me to tour the Harem, I needed to return to the 2^nd courtyard once we had our free time.

I paid the additional fee and entered the Harem. They gave us maps, which were somewhat helpful as the Harem is a very large labyrinth of rooms and courtyards. A newcomer could easily get lost. Even with the map I found myself getting confused a couple of times. But then, there were roughly 93 rooms that were open to the public.

The Harem was in use until the early 20^th century. Even though the Ottoman sultans had moved into the newer Dolmabahce Palace in the late 19^th century and the sultans lost power not too long thereafter, there were children who had been born in the Topkapi Palace Harem who were allowed to live there for as long as they wished. So there were some elderly women still living there at the end of their lives when the sultans were long gone.

At one point, about a year or two after I took this trip, some women from my church held a book club based on a book about life in the Topkapi Harem that was written by a granddaughter of one of the last residents of the Harem. She had visited her grandmother there and had interviewed her and other Harem residents in addition to the research she did for the book. It was quite fascinating.

In movies, harems are usually shown as large open pools of water with naked women bathing with eunuchs fanning them, surrounded by nasty-looking guards. Not quite. This Harem housed the Sultan’s mother, his wives, his concubines, his children, and all of their servants. The bathing areas were much smaller and more private than depicted in films. There were schools for the children, wives and concubines. The guards (who were eunuchs) weren’t there to keep the women and children in; they were there to keep others out. The residents of the Harem could go about their lives, including outside of the palace, but with an escort for their safety.

The first courtyard within the Harem area was the Courtyard of the Eunuchs. This was technically just before entering the actual Harem. The dormitories of the eunuchs overlooked this courtyard.

After passing through a sentry post, the Harem itself was reached. The first courtyard there was the Courtyard of the Queen Mother where the Sultan’s mother and her servants were housed. This had some truly elegant rooms. Taking photos of the rooms presented some difficulties as the day was dark, the rooms relatively small, and a lot of people were in them. In one of the rooms in the Queen Mother’s suite, I got a good shot of the upper portion of the walls, part of the ceiling and a chandelier. An attempt at photographing the entire room ended up with just a crowd of people not entirely in focus. Sometimes that’s just the way it is on a trip.

The next courtyard was the Courtyard of the Concubines. It was mainly pink. This area had dormitories for the general concubines with a special apartment for the Chief Concubine. There were also laundry facilities, baths, a hospital, and some beautiful gardens that overlooked the Bosphorus. I took some rather dark, but otherwise decent photos of a couple of the rooms in there.

The Imperial Hall was where the Sultan would hang out with friends and family. We were roped off from a good-sized section and it had a high dome with additional windows, which helped to get a good photo showing how ornate the room is. I just bided my time until I could get up to the rope with nobody in front of me.

When I finally made it through to the last courtyard – the Courtyard of the Favorites – and out of the final gate of the Harem, I was in the 3^rd courtyard of the palace again. I went and sat down under an arcade to reconnoiter (the photo of that courtyard was taken from my seated perspective). Checking my watch, map, and the lines, I realized that I didn’t have enough time left to see both the sacred relics in the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle and the Topkapi Dagger and other important jewels, art and artifacts in the Imperial Treasury. So I opted for the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle.

The Pavilion of the Holy Mantle was built to house relics of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed. It was originally part of the Sultan’s private quarters, but was opened up in the 16^th century for special viewing by others. Relics of the Prophet include his mantle, some hair from his beard, a tooth, a footprint, a bow and a sword.

What I really wanted to see were the other relics. These included a pot belonging to Abraham, the staff of Moses, the sword of David, the turban of Joseph (the Joseph with the coat of many colors), and an arm of John the Baptist (which was encased, but parts were visible). I was able to see all of these, but not allowed to take photos or video. Whether or not the relics were authentic doesn’t really matter that much to me as they were cool to see anyway.

After Topkapi, we visited the Grand Bazaar. By this time I was feeling really sick and it was still raining heavily. It was pretty much a monsoon at this point. So I opted to stay on the tour coach and take a nap after I picked up some items for dinner at a little food shop next to where we were parked. I had visited the Grand Bazaar in Cairo, Egypt (which is much older) just a couple years earlier, so I figured it was okay to miss this one.

I had to get up at 2am to catch my flight. I dozed off from Istanbul to Amsterdam and then watched a couple of movies from Amsterdam to Minneapolis. When I got home, I think I slept for three days straight (with my dog curled up with me). But I loved seeing Turkey and revisited both Istanbul and Ephesus three years later as part of a trip to Greece & the Greek Islands.

As we were heading back to the hotel from the Grand Bazaar, we passed the train station for the Orient Express. It is quite Victorian and reddish in color. My photo is shot through a rain-streaked tour coach window. Someday I would love to take the Orient Express from Istanbul to Venice, spending some extra time in both cities.

Next time – a long weekend in Hollywood, being a tourist while visiting family.