Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

by docdivatraveller - June 06, 2016

At the foot of the Seven Hills Hotel

After a mesmerising view of the entire city from the rooftop of Seven Hills hotel, we proceeded towards the TopKapi Palace. The Palace is spread over a vast area bordering the Marmara Sea. I guess the sea acts as a most reliable moat. The way from the Blue Mosque to the palace was rather fascinating. The entire area was cobbled. And the cobbled streets led straight to the blue Marmara Sea. It was around seven in the evening and was heavily crowded.

Beautiful Cobbled streets...

Heavily crowded streets..

We started encircling the palace. It was huge. Since it was quite late in the evening, it was closed for tourists. We did not grumble as we were short of time. We had already booked the tickets of the Bosphorous Cruise for the dusk hour. We kept on walking along the high walls of the palace towards the Marmara Sea.

The high walls of the Topkapi Palace...

The Topkapi Palace was the residence of the Sultans of the Ottoman empire for around 400 years. It is also known as The Selagrio and has now been converted into a museum. It houses important relics of the Muslim world, holy remains like the cloak of the Muhammad. The Topkapi Palace started losing its importance towards the end of the Ottoman empire when the Sultans shifted to the Dolmabahce Palace. It is now a UNESCO World heritage sight.

As we proceeded further towards the sea, I spotted wooden buildings on the opposite side of the road. Some of them were boutique hotels while some cafes, etc. I am not at all used to seeing wooden buildings and they really fascinated me. Especially since they had flowering plants hanging from the windows and balconies.

I started posing in front of those beautiful buildings. A bunch of Turkish women joined me. They were not conversant in English and we exchanged hellos with smiles. Some of them posed with me while the more shy ones waited. They said that I was pretty. I smiled and thanked them. I found Turkish women to be very sweet and friendly. Every place where we went, the local women there interacted with us and took photos. For a city like Istanbul which is bustling with tourists all year long, its lovely to find that the local people take interest in tourists. Such sweet encounters leave memories etched for life.