Topkapi Palace

Hello Hivers and travelers! Today, I continue to document on the blockchain my trip to Istanbul at the end of 2019.

And it's time to share some notes of our visit to one of the must-see sights when visiting Istanbul for the first time, the Topkapi Palace.

This palace was the residence of sultans during the Ottoman Empire. And it is located very close to Sultanahmet Square.

On our visit, we spent half a day touring the courtyards and some of the buildings that make up the palace. But I can tell you can easily spend almost the whole day if you want to visit everything.

_{Topkapi Palace}

We purchased the tickets to enter the palace at the ticket booths located in the first courtyard. While we were waiting to buy them, we saw a couple of guards on horseback passing by.

_{First Courtyard Topkapi Palace}

Tickets in hand, we entered the second courtyard of the palace through the Gate of Salutation.

The large Gate of Salutation, also known as the Middle Gate (Turkish: Orta Kapı), leads into the palace and the Second Courtyard. This crenellated gate has two large, pointed octagonal towers. Its date of construction is uncertain; the architecture of the towers appears to be of Byzantine influence. An inscription at the door dates this gate to at least 1542. Source

_{The Gate of Salutation, Topkapi Palace}

During our visit, we visited several of the buildings that make up the palace and which are distributed around the different courtyards.

I don't have photos of all of them. And I seem to remember, in some of them, photography indoors was not allowed.

_{Second Courtyard Topkapi Palace}

We visited the imperial treasury collection. Also, the building where the palace kitchens were, and there was a collection of utensils and crockery used during the Ottoman Empire.

_{Second Courtyard Topkapi Palace - Imperial Council Chamber building}

I also remember that we visited the Imperial Council Chamber. And in the photo below is the entrance to this building.

_{Imperial Council Chamber - Topkapi Palace}

But one of the most impressive parts of the palace is undoubtedly the Harem. It was the residence of the sultans and their wives. To visit the Harem, we needed to buy a separate entrance ticket.

_{Harem - Topkapi Palace}

Many of the rooms are not open to the public, and many are under restoration. However, we could visit some of the rooms and see the lavish decorations.

_{Harem - Topkapi Palace}

The harem was home to the sultan's mother, the Valide Sultan; the concubines and wives of the sultan; and the rest of his family, including children; and their servants.[74] The harem consists of a series of buildings and structures, connected through hallways and courtyards. Every service team and hierarchical group residing in the harem had its own living space clustered around a courtyard. The number of rooms is not determined, with probably over 100, Source.

_{Harem - Topkapi Palace}

Among all the rooms we were able to visit, it was one of the Sultan's bathing rooms.

_{Harem - Sultan's bath - Topkapi Palace}

This was one of the inner courtyards of the Harem that was open to visitors.

_{Harem - Inner Courtyard - Topkapi Palace}

And here is a closer look at the exterior of one of the apartments of the Harem.

_{Harem - Topkapi Palace}

After the visit to the Harem, we continue our tour through the courtyards of the Palace, visiting some of the other buildings, such as the Library of Ahmed III.

_{Library of Ahmed III - Topkapi Palace}

From the outer gardens of the Palace, there are magnificent views of the Bosphorus.

And one of the many things you can see from this point is the Haliç Metro Bridge, also known as Golden Horn Bridge.

_{Haliç Metro Bridge, view from Topkapi Palace gardens}

After a short walk through the gardens, we leave the palace grounds through the first courtyard. On the way out, we pass by the Hagia Irene building, a former orthodox church.

_{Hagia Irene}

It was used as an arsenal for storing weapons until the 19th century. The Hagia Irene today operates as a museum and concert hall. Source.

We leave the palace using the imperial gate. Crossing it, we come across the Ahmed III Fountain. And from that point, we walked a few meters to reach Sultanahmet.

_{Ahmed III Fountain and the Imperial Gate of Topkapi Palace in the back}