The Harem is the portion in the palace where the Sultan and his family lives. Actually the Sultan lives by himself and his wives all live by themselves. They have shared areas and also their own rooms with their own toilets, etc.... We were told the Sultan has like 80+ concubines and I was like.. WHAT? I later found out though, these people are just sort of like higher classed servants who served the Sultan's chidlren and wives...
ANyway, while we were waiting, we met this really interesting AMerican lady. She is quite old and has saved up for retirement to make this trip to Turkey and intends to stay for a month in Istanbul. She is an educator.. she teaches school teachers how to teach kids and has two children in their twenties.. she says Ace's age is the best.. mature with still a little bit of innocence...
Her advice to all teachers she says is that educating children is like growing flowers.. you just do the best you can and water and fertilize them and only later when you open out the flowers you know whether you grow a good fruit or a bad fruit.. hahaha ;)
We struck a conversation because she told me that she was looking out for Max.. as he just needed to follow his botak head and remmeber his jacket colour... she says she knows as long as she follows Max she wouldnt get lost!:)
Hahahahaa..
She also recommended that we take a boat to this nice place to have a view of the whole of Istanbul.. her suggestion sounded really attractive. Alas, we like to leisurely tour places and did not have time in the end...
The Harem area in the Dolmabahce Palace was set aside as the private residence of the Sultan, his mother, his official wives, royal princes and princesses. Harem has ten separate apartments; eight of these were set aside for the official and unofficial wives (Favorites) who were the mothers of the royal princes and princesses. The Harem also included a guest suite for special guests. The first two apartments are situated parallel to the Bosphorus Strait and these were reserved for the ruling Sultan and his mother. The other apartments in the harem were positioned at right angles to the sea. Each of the apartments has three stories and each has its own attic area as well.
One of the halls where they enter the Harem...
One of the bedrooms...
Basically this part of the tour is just lots and lots of bedrooms with fancy designs:)
Then there is also the BLUE Hall which is like a special area for them to hold ceremonies and all that... apparently, this hall is kept on guard all day... because even the wives and children have to be INVITED to be able to be present in this room....
The Sultan, the Royal Women, and first class maids celebrated the Ramadan and Sacrificial holidays in this hall. As from the second half of the 19th century onwards the Ottoman Sultans used this hall for official receptions of foreign head of states. The Sultan's mother, (or in her absence the head wife) would use this room to welcome and entertain the wife/wives of visiting head of state. Even the wives or children of the Sultan were only allowed to enter or leave this hall by invitation or appointment.
Members of the palaces's most elite servants, persons directly selected by the Sultan himself, would guard the lower and upper floors of this hall throughout the day, having the full responsibility for everything that took place here. The four corners of the ceiling sectioned off with gold leaf panels have been decorated with landscapes representing the four seasons.
You probably realized by now that the deco in the Harem is very ornate.. and very FRENCH in their design. Apparently, the Sultan who built the palace had a mother who came from France. She believed that if you live in a very FRENCH LIKE place, you will become very french and most of the places in the Harem.. especially the Queen Mother's bedroom is very french... Sadly, I cannot find a picture for this on the internet...
Anyway, the guide told us that most of the King's chidlren can speak various languages FLUENTLY like a native speaker by a certain age!
Got Blue Hall.. also got Pink Hall..
As I walked past this room.. Ace asked me why got tinkling sound...
Apparently, the tinkling sound is because hor.. the floor boards are sort of loose.. so when you walk right, there is vibration and so that crystals jingle... no wonder they want to limit the number of poeple who visit this place daily...
Check out the ceiling man..
Lovely colours
Some how though, we got lost.. I did not manage to see the deathbed of Atarurk... He is the national hero in Turkey lah... cos he is the one who led the fight to overthtrow the Ottoman Empire to form the new government...
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (pronounced [musˈtäfä ceˈmäl ätäˈtyɾc]; 19 May 1881 (conventional) – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish army officer in the Ottoman military, revolutionary statesman, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey. His surname, Atatürk (meaning "Father of the Turks"), was granted to him in 1934 and forbidden to any other person by the Turkish parliament.
Our guide said they left the wheelchair there cos in his late days, he had to rely on a wheelchair to move about...
So because we got lost, we any howly got out of the palace lor... wahahaha:)
And then dunno who we walk walk walk walk.. we came to the Royal Aviary...
THere were so many different types of birds here...
Try as we might we were not lucky enough to see the bird open up its features... not like the lucky guys in 91 Days In Istanbul....
Got this pic from their website..
After tat , we went to this place called the Crystal Pavilion.. is a small exhibition of all the crystal displays they have...
GOOD.. cos now that he is done.. he can leave and I can take photo:) whahhahaa
After this, we hurried off to take a train becos Max says we should visit Taksim Square as it is a very famous square that EVERYONE HAS TO VISIT.. I asked him why.. he say DUNNO.. just tat he heard about it often so we should go.. because it is quite far, we had to take the MRT there.. After asking around a little, we found the station and onward we go!
Source of info for Dommabahce Palace:
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