Good morning Istanbul, it’s supposed to be sunny hot today #HeatwaveAlert but this won’t keep me away from exploring 😀 
After an energetic breakfast we made our way towards our first POIs – the Topkapi Palace, which was constructed by Fatih Sultan Mehment in 1478. It has been used as the administrative centre of the Ottoman Empire and the residence of the Sultans for 380 years. Even though the Household of the Palace began to live in Dolmabahçe, Yildiz and other palaces in 19th century, Topkapi Palace never lost its significance. 
It was converted into a museum after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the Turkish Republic in 1924. 
The Topkapi Palace is made up of four different courtyards with beautiful gardens and various exhibitions such as the treasury, weapons, watch collection, kaftans, portraits and sacred relics of prophets. 
Most of the exhibitions did not allow taking pictures 🙁 
A visit of the Topkapi Palace would not be complete with a visit of the Harem section, the place where Sultans lived with their families. [Site Note: sultans could have as many wives as they wanted and they were all housed in the harem. Apparently the sultans supported to have as many as 300 concubines in the Harem, although numbers were usually lower than this.] 
The world Harem stands for “a place forbidden” or “private”. Therefore, the only men allowed in the harem were black eunuchs and castrated slaves with no sexual urges. 
Unfortunately the Harem section is currently under construction and restoration, therefore, we weren’t able to see all the areas 🙁 
Nevertheless, it was an impressive area, especially the handmade Iznik tiles 😀 
There is surely so much to see at Topkapi Palace, and hopefully this post could give you some sort of an impression of how it was back in the days, especially when the Topkapi Palace was almost a world within a world.
We easily spent 3hish here before we moved to our next POI: The Blue Mosque and The Basilica Cistern.
Entrance to the Topkapi Palace is 40TL, Audio Guide 20TL, and if you want to visit the Harem as well – a separated entrance fee of 25TL will be charged.
Location Details:
Cankurtaran Mh., 34122 Fatih/Istanbul, Turkey
Phone: +90 212 512 04 80
Website: www.topkapisarayi.gov.tr/en
