ISTANBUL - DAY 2

It was a very long day today, starting in the wee hours of the morning with not being able to sleep because of jet lag.  We were ready for our tour at 9:00 a.m. and this was going to be a six hour tour.  We took the tram (paid for by our tour guide) to our starting point which was Topkapi Palace - Top means Canon Gun and Kapi means Gate.  This palace is on 7 acres and was completed in 1465.  It was used as for 'administrative' purposes.  Although the palace is quite ornate now, the ornate part of it wasn't done until around 1795.  The Topkapi Palace is a combination of museum where you are not allowed to take pictures and 'galleries', where you can.

There are several buildings on the grounds, including the harem section which we did not include in our ticket.  While it was called 'the harem section', it was used primarily for family and the sultan spent much of his time there.  The harem section is similar to the Chinese Forbidden Palace history where the emperor had concubines who could give him a son.  It was the same for the sultan, although not as many concubines.  The women, including the sultan's wife, were not allowed into the other sections of the palace.  The sultan imported African eunuchs to work in the kitchen and while they lived in the harem section, they were allowed into the kitchen.

This is a picture of the entrance to the Topkapi Palace.  The gentleman on the left is our Tour Guide.  Incidentally, education (including university education) in Turkey is free and to become a Licensed and Certified Tour Guide, one must take a 4-year university curriculum that includes subjects such as history, archaeology, etc.

These pictures are of the Outer Treasury Building which was used to store money to pay soldiers and for other palace administration activities.

This is a picture of the Audience Hall where either the sultan or his grand vizor held one-on-one meetings with 'dignitaries'.  There was a fountain outside and one inside which would drown out the conversation so that no one else could listen in.

The sultan adopted many orphan boys who were trained for about 14 - 15 years in the Academy for Training building on the grounds.  Once they graduated, they were then assigned positions such as governors, judges, etc. of some of the provinces of the Ottoman empire.  At the time, these provinces included Jordan, Kuwait, Algeria, Israel, Saudi Arabia, etc.  In 1923, the current borders of Turkey were drawn in Switzerland and the Turks lost control of the middle east.  The first picture is of one of the training buildings and the second one is of the library.

The inner treasury had many beautiful ornate inheritances made by craftsmen from Russia, India, China, Britain and several other countries.  There was also a building which housed many different types of weapons used throughout the years.  Unfortunately, both of these buildings were museums and we were not allowed to take pictures.

The Palace has a summer courtyard which has a nice fountain, a picture of which is below.

The sultan's sons were circumcised at the age of 13 - Ouch!  (Today, circumcision in Turkey is done at age 6 or 7).  There was a very ornate circumcision room, pictures of which follow.  The first picture is the entrance to the room and the other pictures are of two of the walls in the room.

We did a lot of walking and travel by tram, metro and the funicular and got to the Galata Bridge, one of the bridges which connect old and new Istanbul.  We walked across the bridge to get to the ferry where we took a tour of The Bosphorous.  There is a lot of fishing for sardines and mackerel that takes place on the bridge as shown in the following two pictures.

Under the bridge, there are restaurants spanning the length of the bridge as shown in this picture.

Istanbul spans Europe and Asia and the European side used to be called Constantinople.  We took a two hour tour of the Bosphorous where we could see both sides and the ferry turned around just before the Bosphorous meets the Black Sea.  This is a picture of the new side of Istanbul and I believe the building by the water is a hotel.

The sultan built a newer palace (which we did not visit) called the Dolmabahce Palace on the new side of Istanbul, a picture of which follows.

These next two pictures are of the new side and shows some of the construction taking place.  construction is not something we saw on the old side.

This next picture is of a new mosque built along the water, donated by a rich person.

There is a HUGE bazaar called the Grand Bazaar which is mostly indoors but has spread to outside as well.  The shops carry just about everything, most of which is not priced so you are expected to dicker.  There are so many aisles that one can easily get lost.  In fact, we went back there to find a particular shop and couldn't find it.  There is also a Spice Market which sells mostly spices but other goods as well, but it is not as large as the Grand Bazaar.  We visited the Spice Market but I did not take any pictures.  The fist picture is of a part of the open area of the Grand Bazaar; the 2nd picture is of the entrance and the 3rd picture is of the main aisle.