An Istanbul Must See — The Topkapi Palace, the Former Center of Ottoman of Power

Irene tiptoeing to be taller than her mother.

The star attraction of Topkapi is the harem.  Here is the first decorated room in the harem.  Our response was “Wow, definitely worth the extra admission charge.”  The self guided tour is organised so that each section is more impressive than the previous, so you are always saying “Why did we spend so log on the beginning” and  never “Oh, just another room.”

An exterior passageway

The palace was destroyed by two great fires, so perhaps it is OK to spoil a photo with a fire extinguisher.

A single tile

A single tile from the wall above.

A couple of border tiles

A lovely geometric pattern on the wall

Closer sinspection reveals the details (for some reason it looks green from a ditance)

and here is a single hexagonal tile

 The Queen Mother’s apartment is the grandest living area in the women’s area.  The room, tiles from floor to ceiling has a fireplace, and cupboards.

Here is the ceiling of another room in her apartement

and Irene photographing it

Inlaid mother-of-pear cabinet

detail

A border

Harem comes from the Arabic  (ḥaram) ‘something prohibited; sanctuary, women’.  Most of the Harem is enclosed, wit few windows.  We are outside again, in a courtyard.

 The walls under the arches are tiled

 A wall by the Sultan’s chamber

and a close up

The Sultan’s chamber. Naturally the largest and grandest room, but actually, the crown prince’s rooms, being  smaller have a greater intensity of decoration.

An alcove with three shelves (still in the sultan’s chamber)

Half the ceiling and the top of a wall (sky lights in the very center)

A couple of details of the painted arches

Corner of sultan’s chamber

In the next room, a water tap for ritual washing

detail

More decorated alcoves

Next we move to a remarkably beautiful room, that seemd to be just the meeting place for two corridors. Ceiling and top of the walls

Five shots of a truly beautiful wall — I will have to find more pics of it

One of the two crown prince’s rooms.

Top of the wall

Detail

Further refined

This incredibly detailed work is about 10 feet up — well above eye level!

The crown prince’s room was well endowed with windows, but visitors can only access part of the room, hence the angled shots.

Gilded alchoves

What looks like the tree of life.

This looks like a carpet made of tiles.  (This needs to be straightened, but Picassa’s straighten tool loses resolution.)

Rhe top of the wall and a little of  the ceiling

The ceiling

A brillliant panel in a narrow passage bewteen two rooms

Outside, again.  The outside of the crown prince’s rooms

Still no expense spared. Notice the tiling between the windows, and the gilded decoration on the eaves.

Gilded decoration on the eaves

Tiling at the base of the wall

An unusual wall panel, that seems to tell a story

A long tiled wall

and it’s time for a very late and well deserved lunch at the restaurant overlooking the Bosphorus

There is lot more to Topkapi.  Here is the Sultan’s library — a large bright airy pavilion in the gardens

The divan and Hall of state

Entrance to hall of state

A corner of the Hall of state

Detail of an archway in the Hall of State

A couple of tulips

It was a beautiful day

A final glimpse of the Blue Mosque on the way out.

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