We have saved our last day in Istanbul to visit the Tokapi Palace and arrived at the first imperial gate at 9.45 … a little later than we had planned.
This leads to the First Courtyard which is free to enter, containing a shady garden and the queue for the ticket booth.
And then we queued. We had hoped to avoid all this queuing by buying a Museumcard to cover entry to all attractions at one of the smaller museums, then being able to enter the others more quickly, but there had been some technical problem and it just wasn’t available.
At 11.15 we entered the Second Courtyard through the Gate of Salutations and headed to the Divan, named for the seat running round the edge and where the imperial councillors met.
Next was the Gate of Felicity through to the Third Courtyard dominated by the Throne Room which was far more impressive on the outside, than within. There was also a suite of rooms containing various relics of the Prophet where no photos were allowed, which was a shame as the highlight for us were the fabulous Iznik tiles.
Into the Fourth Courtyard and there were fine views with Atatürk Bridge and the Galata Tower in the distance. We also were lucky enough to find a bed of tulips still in flower, as most have finished … apt since tulips originally came from Turkey and the word tulip was derived from the Persian word ‘Tulipan’ which means turban as tulips were thought to resemble the shape of turbans.
A couple of stunning pavilions were saved to last, covered in beautiful tiling and sitting in the shady gardens …
… and jewel-like interiors.
As we were walking round, there seemed to be so much more to see than we had remembered from our previous visit so we are really pleased we came again.
Finally we visited The Harem which we definitely remembered, although several parts were closed for restoration we still saw the entrance passage, the Imperial Chamber and the Courtyard of the Favourites.
Having walked ourselves of our feet, we left the palace, passing the impressive … fountain … and took the tram for one stop to Cemberlitas. Here we found a falafel and humus cafe for some lunch, then we relaxed at the Cemberlitas Hamam next door where we were steamed, and scrubbed and rinsed.
It is a traditional hamam with separate areas for men and women and huge domes over the bath houses studded with little windows but it didn’t feel as local as I remembered from my first visit when there had been as many locals as tourists.
Weather here has been a little chilly first thing – around 14° then warming up in the sunshine to around 20° but with a bit of a breeze and cooling right down again in the evening so it’s been perfect for sightseeing, and the restaurants have heaters and blankets outside if you get a little cold over dinner, including Duares where the fish casserole and stuffed aubergine were excellent.
It is now time to move on and tomorrow we fly to Cappadocia.
Off Travelling Together 