Today/Saturday, we woke up at 9 am and had breakfast at our hotel.
Our first stop was Topkapi Palace. It is a palace that was used by most sultans of the Ottoman Empire. It's a huge facility with various sections - sultan's quarters, sultan's privy space, council/court for hearing petitions, kitchens, courtyards, princes' chambers, library, treasury - and all of them are immense in size. The main highlight was relics from Prophet Muhammad's time including his personal artifacts and his companions' belongings. It was also interesting to see the treasures stored in their treasury - gifts from various other kingdoms for the Ottoman Empire, loot from wars and historical artifacts. The crown jewel here is an 82 karat diamond clear as water. We also saw the Harem section of the palace and it was very instructive about the life of luxury and excess that all the Ottoman kings lived. After spending 3.5 hours exploring Topkapi Palace, we went to see two other museums that are located within the larger boundary of the Topkapi Palace area and are called the Archaeological Museums of Istanbul. Both these museums had artifacts from the ancient Roman and Mesopotamian era but these museums weren't as interesting as seeing the Roman ruins at the original site of Ephesus in Izmir earlier in the trip.
Then we had traditional Turkish lunch of kababs at a nearby restaurant. After lunch, we saw the Basilica Cistern. It's a huge underground water storage facility - 230 feet by 460 feet with 300 plus columns and the height/depth is around 50 feet. It was used by Romans to store water in case there was a siege of Constantinople. An interesting quirk is that at the base of two columns, there are two Medusa heads - one upside down and one tilted to one side. No one knows why they are there. Medusa is believed to be a woman from Mythical times who turned anyone into stone who looked at her and legend has it that she had snakes instead of hair.
After Basilica Cistern, we went to the Galata Tower. There was an almost 1.5 hour line outside this tower. This tower was used as a guard tower by keeping a lookout for approaching enemies. It give an excellent panoramic view of Istanbul from the top. After Galata Tower, we had dinner at Taksim Square and came back to our hotel. Off to sleep now. Till the next update, bye!
Our first stop was Topkapi Palace. It is a palace that was used by most sultans of the Ottoman Empire. It's a huge facility with various sections - sultan's quarters, sultan's privy space, council/court for hearing petitions, kitchens, courtyards, princes' chambers, library, treasury - and all of them are immense in size. The main highlight was relics from Prophet Muhammad's time including his personal artifacts and his companions' belongings. It was also interesting to see the treasures stored in their treasury - gifts from various other kingdoms for the Ottoman Empire, loot from wars and historical artifacts. The crown jewel here is an 82 karat diamond clear as water. We also saw the Harem section of the palace and it was very instructive about the life of luxury and excess that all the Ottoman kings lived. After spending 3.5 hours exploring Topkapi Palace, we went to see two other museums that are located within the larger boundary of the Topkapi Palace area and are called the Archaeological Museums of Istanbul. Both these museums had artifacts from the ancient Roman and Mesopotamian era but these museums weren't as interesting as seeing the Roman ruins at the original site of Ephesus in Izmir earlier in the trip.
Then we had traditional Turkish lunch of kababs at a nearby restaurant. After lunch, we saw the Basilica Cistern. It's a huge underground water storage facility - 230 feet by 460 feet with 300 plus columns and the height/depth is around 50 feet. It was used by Romans to store water in case there was a siege of Constantinople. An interesting quirk is that at the base of two columns, there are two Medusa heads - one upside down and one tilted to one side. No one knows why they are there. Medusa is believed to be a woman from Mythical times who turned anyone into stone who looked at her and legend has it that she had snakes instead of hair.
After Basilica Cistern, we went to the Galata Tower. There was an almost 1.5 hour line outside this tower. This tower was used as a guard tower by keeping a lookout for approaching enemies. It give an excellent panoramic view of Istanbul from the top. After Galata Tower, we had dinner at Taksim Square and came back to our hotel. Off to sleep now. Till the next update, bye!
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