Last Night in Istanbul

We made our way to Sultanahmet area to visit the Topkapi Sarayi or Topkapi Palace but found that it was closed on Tuesdays. Oh well. Since we had not eaten we made our way to Buhara 23 and had more kebaps. (Tamara is a bit more better).

We decided to forgo the taxi and try out the tram. So for 1.2YTL per person, we enjoyed the ride from Sultanahmet to Kabatas. At Kabatas, we walked for about five minutes to the to Dolmabahce Palace.


















Dolmabahce Sarayi is rather new - built in 1840s by Sultan Abdulmecid. There were two parts- the more public state rooms and the private apartment (or harems). The state rooms were vast and sumptuous in its European styling. It was gilded in gold and the housed the largest and possibly the heaviest crystal chandelier in the world. Of course, no palace is complete without a grand staircase with crystal bannisters. One comment overheard during our tour: "It's so beautiful it makes you weep."














The second part of the tour is the Harem where the families of the Sultan lived. The mother of the Sultan seemed to have the most comfortable apartments. My favorite was the nursery in one of the apartments with its small furniture. I can picture Emma and Lauren playing in there.















One of the interesting things about this palace is the role the Bosphorus play in its architecture. Most state rooms had two entrances that mirrored each other. One door lead to the street to welcome those that came by road and the other door lead to the sea for those that came by water.















After touring this palace we walked to our palace, the Ciragan Palace Hotel, a few minutes by the waterside. I headed out for my massage (didn't get the Turkish Bath which gets you some flogging, I mean, pummeling, okay, massage). I opted for a more gentle hot Indian oil massage which at the end made me looked like I was basted for roasting. No roasting though just lots of relaxing.

As always, we headed out to Ortakoy to take on the Kumpir (stuffed baked potato) but started our evening with a relaxing before dinner drinks. Efes the Turkish beer is very light but comes in these big huge mugs.














Here's another picture of the waffle guy smearing on oodles of chocolate cream on the waffles.


















A good close up of the masterpiece.















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