Welcome to Topkapi Sarayi, or in English, Topkapi Palace. This photo is taken from the first courtyard, which is free to check out, but to pass beyond the gate above (the Ortakapi or "Middle Gate"), you will have to pay admission. I've been avoiding writing about Topkapi Sarayi for a very practical reason:
Do you see how massive this place is?! Now imagine trying to pick out like 5 pictures and write like 4 paragraphs about it. Daunting. So I'm going to split it up and just focus on the Harem complex today. Topkapi certainly isn't cheap; I dropped 20 TL admission, plus another 15 TL for entrance into the Harem, 10 TL for the audio guide for the palace (it's more if you want audio for the palace and the Harem, and frankly I don't think it is really worth it), and then about 20 TL for lunch (speaking of, this is where I discovered that they have iced tea in Istanbul and I got really excited because the Brits look at you like you're crazy if you mention iced tea). That right there is about a quarter of what I spent in Istanbul the entire time I was there. With the exchange rate, that's about 30 pounds or $40. For one tourist attraction. But it would be a shame to visit Istanbul and skip Topkapi. If history isn't really your thing, I almost think the admission is worth it just for the photo opportunities overlooking the Bosphorus/Golden Horn. And once you get over the price shock at the palace's little outdoor cafe, it is a really nice place to sit and have a drink enjoying the view over the water.
So here we go. Construction on the palace began in 1459 and lasted until 1465, and originally served as the seat of the Ottoman goverment following the Ottoman takeover of Constantinople in 1453. The so-called "Old Palace" located where Istanbul University now stands (btw, a really handy landmark if you get turned around coming out of the Grand Bazaar but I digress) originally served as the sultan's residence, and even after Mehmet the Conqueror moved to live at Topkapi, his harem remained at the Old Palace initially. The palace buildings are arranged around a series of four courtyards, with the buildings serving particular functions clustered together. For example, the buildings around the 2nd court served the needs of the Divan, the Council of State. But more on all that later. The palace officially became a museum in 1923 following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and is a major tourist attraction today. I recommend getting there kind of early to beat out some of the crowds and to avoid some of the blazing sun if you visit during the summer.
Here I want to focus on the 400+ rooms that served as the Harem, the rooms where the sultan lived with his mother the Valide Sultan and his various wives, concubines, female slaves, children, and, after Ahmet I, where the sultan's brothers lived in captivity in the Cage I mentioned in a previous entry. The harem complex was built in the late 16th century to allow the king's entourage to move to Topkapi from the Old Palace.
The interior of the harem is adorned with those same Iznik tiles from the Blue Mosque (but a bit easier to photograph in daylight rather than fake candlelight!). And you can hang out with one of the black eunuchs, charged with running the Harem and guarding the entrances.
While some of the quarters are quite lavish and extravagant, large parts of the harem are surprisingly bare.
This hallway was the Passage of the Concubines, leading to Court of the Concubines and the quarters of the Sultan's chief consorts. The counter on the left is where food brought from the kitchens by the eunuchs would be placed for the women to pick up.
The aforementioned Court of the Concubines, with individual chambers branching off from it. But again, not all that fancy-schmancy. But when you consider that the only people who should be seeing this area of the palace are the members of the harem, the support staff, and the sultan, I suppose there is less need to show off with one's decor. And by the end of the sultanate, other palaces were used as the chief residences of the sultans & their harems; it's entirely possible those are more impressive, I just don't have a basis for comparison.
The individual chambers are by and large much more like what one would expect for a palatial residence. Above is the chamber of Sultan Abdulhamid I, with couch, and (below), the other side of the room contains a seating area.
And above the chamber...
one of the ubiquitous domes.
This is from the chamber of the Valide Sultan, the sultan's mother, and shows the attention paid to both the walls and the sides of yet another dome.
And of course you can't have a harem without a marble & gold bathroom. But I think I'll stick with modern plumbing, thanks!
They may have been sequestered in the harem, but at least they had a nice view and a courtyard.
There's the Galata Tower peaking out from across the Golden Horn.
And how's that for impressive? This is one of the chambers of the Crown Prince. Below is a nicer shot of some of those stained glass windows.
So there's the Harem. I wouldn't want to live there, but it is a really cool place to check out and learn about a very different culture. There are signs about, but the English translations are often iffy at best; there was one sign I spent a good 5 minutes staring at, trying to decipher what they were trying to say and never did figure it out. Like I mentioned, you can get an audio guide for the Harem, but if it's along the same lines as the audio guide for the rest of Topkapi, you might be better served by picking up one of the guide books to Topkapi Palace at one of the museum shops for about the same price as the audio guide. Also, keep in mind that the Harem closes earlier than the rest of the palace, so plan your visit accordingly.
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