Istanbul: Sultan's Digs

Our next few days in Istanbul followed a wonderful pattern of sunshine, downpours, sunshine, downpours and so on.
A bright sunny day got us into the mood to check out Topkapi Palace and the Blue Mosque.  But before we made the trek to the tram station we forked out 50 euros each for breakfast at the hotel with a mental note to find the closest Starbucks for the next day.  While our travel companion was catching up on her zzzz, my cousin and I decided to explore the Ciragan Palace.  It was a bright sunny morning and the Palace was completely deserted.  We took the opportunity to enjoy the place and happily clicked away.
The palace has gone through multiple renovations and the outer baroque style is supplemented inside with all glass and wood interior.  It mostly serves as a venue for special events.  A perfect place for a princess' wedding.

Exterior Face

Beautiful glass bannister and chandeliers

 The bright sunny morning outside made perfect lighting for silohuettes

I did make my grand entrance down those stairs except there was no one waiting for me at the bottom!

As we walked to Kabatz, I noticed that all the lovely sycamores in Istanbul always grew at a slant in parallel lines.  Will have to research this more.  If you know why, please add a comment here.

Topkapi Palace had a small wait to get in but the grounds are so beautiful that one does not mind the wait.  We bought tickets to the main palace as well as the womens harem.  

Hagia Eirene in the Palace quarters

Locked to keep out mere mortals like us

 

Harem courtyard

All throughout the mosques in Istanbul I was drawn to the ornate ablution basins and the Sultan's basins gave the stained glass window a run for their money.  With every square inch decorated on the ceilings and even the underside of the eaves (i am still walking with my head tilted up), do not forget to look at ground or eye level otherwise you will miss the beautiful carpets of pebblestones or yet another iznik tile.

 

Peacock Room

The main palace was full of tourists and school groups with lines three deep to see Prophet Mohammed's beard hair (which you need to see through a magnifying glass) but the Harem was not at all crowded.  The views were beautiful and everyone took a moment or two to pause and enjoy the day.

My favorite was the enticing library of Ahmet III with beautiful sunlight filtering through tall windows  and on to the divans . After an exhausting half day at Topkapi, we grabbed a quick tea at the Palace cafe and headed out of the palace grounds in search of Basilica Cistern.  If you ever have trouble finding the dirt mound under which the Cistern is located, just look for the bright yellow wood building in Sultanahmet and the Basilica Cistern is directly across from it.  This yellow building serves as an excellent landmark.

The 1500 year old cavernous cistern (total area of over a 100000 sq feet) is an engineering marvel, outcome of many a math and science fired syanptic transfer.  What is unexplainable though are the mysterious positions of the Medusa.  The side head still sends shivers up my spine...creepy!

 

After exploring the alleyways and window shopping we were ready for our first meal since that overly priced breakfast.  

We found our way to Khorasani Kebab house (on Ticarethane sokak, next to Normade hotel) and lingered over fabulous food and wine.  We loved it so much that we returned there once again during our remaining stay.  Excellent all around.

How can one turn away from such a smorgasbord of Mezze

Still working off that bread!

So many more images to share but this is it for today!