Monday, April 07, 2014

Istanbul Trip Part 5: Topkapi Palace Pt 2

Part twoabout our Topkapi Palace adventures..


In the second part.. we actually mostly visited the gardens and near the Harem Section of the Palace.. Sadly, did not get to go into the Harem...

Beautiful garden within palace grounds...

It overlooks into this park with lots and lots and lots of tulips! We are so going there later!

I found out later in the olden days, this is the Imperial Garden! It is called Gülhane Park..  which means House of Flowers. 



We discovered a butterfly among the flowers.. to be exact.. Ace found it first..


And this is why we bought a new camera... so tat we can take shots like this!:) wahahahaha..


And then we came to this place.. which is like a little house..looks like a chalet or a summer house to me...

In the garden , there are some lion statues.. lions I think might be a symbol of royalty or something as I see them very often in palaces in Istanbul..








Look, a heart shaped puddle on the floor!:)


I cannot remember where this is.. but I think it is the Terrace Kiosk... cos of the big windows..




It is right next to the tulip garden.. From the kiosk the sultan would watch sporting events in the garden and organised entertainments. This open building with large windows was originally used as a restroom and later, during the Tulip era (1718–1730), as a lodge for guests.


Then we walked to this area... which I think is the courtyard near where the Harem is... Harem is like the private living place of the royal family...

The Imperial Harem (Harem-i Hümayûn) occupied one of the sections of the private apartments of the sultan; it contained more than 400 rooms.[75] The harem was home to the sultan's mother, the Valide Sultan; the concubines and wives of the sultan; and the rest of his family, including children; and their servants.[76] The harem consists of a series of buildings and structures, connected through hallways and courtyards. Every service team and hierarchical group residing in the harem had its own living space clustered around a courtyard. The number of rooms is not determined, with probably over 100,[77] of which only a few are open to the public. These apartments (Daires) were occupied respectively by the harem eunuchs, the Chief Harem Eunuch (Darüssaade Ağası), the concubines, the queen mother, the sultan's consorts, the princes and the favourites. There was no trespassing beyond the gates of the harem, except for the sultan, the queen mother, the sultan's consorts and favourites, the princes and the concubines as well as the eunuchs guarding the harem.


Photo from 91 Days In Istanbul

The fountain in the courtyard..

This is the Baghdad Kiosk...




This is the Iftar Bower.. or also known as the Iftar Kiosk... The sultan is reported to have had the custom to break his fast under this bower during the fasting month of ramadan after sunset. Some sources mention this resting place as the "Moonlit Seat". Special gifts like the showering of gold coins to officials by the sultan also sometimes occurred here.


It is a very nice place to take pictures because the view is beautiful:)


Went inside the Baghdad Kiosk to take a look...

The Baghdad Kiosk (Bağdad Köşkü) is situated on the right side of the terrace with a fountain. It was built to commemorate the Baghdad Campaign of Murad IV after 1638.

It closely resembles the Yerevan Kiosk. The three doors to the porch are located between the sofas. The façade is covered with marble, strips of porphyry and verd antique. The marble panelling of the portico is executed in Cairene Mamluk style. The interior is an example of an ideal Ottoman room.[71] The recessed shelves and cupboards are decorated with early 16th-century green, yellow and blue tiles. The blue-and-white tiles on the walls are copies of the tiles of the Circumcision Room, right across the terrace. With its tiles dating to the 17th century, mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell decorated cupboard and window panels, this pavilion is one of the last examples of the classical palace architecture.

The doors have very fine inlay work. On the right side of the entrance is a fireplace with a gilded hood. In the middle of the room is a silver 'mangal' (charcoal stove), a present of King Louis XIV of France. From the mid-18th century onwards, the building was used as the library of the Privy Chamber.

THat is the fire place...


You can't see clearly but the panelling is actually decorated with mother of pearl shells...


Right outside the kiosk is a photo point everyone also wants to take photo at.. cos you can see Sultan Ahmed here:)



I decided to walk over to the other side...



This part of the building is the grand tutor's room, the prince's room... etc... There is also the circumisation room..  But, I did not get to the part which is the Sultan's private residence.. and the Queen's bedrooms





We did not take much photos cos they all looked 大同小异 to me:) wahaha


But just to give you a a general idea of the rooms in that area, here are some phtos featured on the 91 Days In Istanbul website...

 
 
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 Anyway, Ace saw someone taking photos of them pretending that they were peeing, so he wanted to do that too.. So Max help him take photo lor...



Oops.. this one looks like he peeing on this girl.. wahahaha.. who ask her to photo bomb.. wahaha


Hahaha.. this one more like it..


Then we walked through this area which has some art exhibition...

It is actually the Sultan Portrait Gallery where they exhibit Sultan's oil paintings. Apparently during that time, the Sultan was very intrigued by the western style portraits and had one done and so it became like a tradition and they all did their portraits..


” Portrait of Fatih Sultan Mehmed “


” Portrait of Kanuni Sultan Süleyman “


By this time, already 2 plus liao.. so time to go and eat lunch liao.. so we decided it is time to go.. even though we have not finished touring the whole palace... anyway, we already spent like 4 hours here! I really dun know how our friends finished this place in 1.5 hours!:)




Passed by the museum shop and Ace said he wanted to go and take a look.. when we were looking at the jewel adorned glass goblets, Max was saying will be shiok if can get one to drink beer.. wahahaha.. I took this pic to show him a replica he can get.. wahahahaha


Goodbye Topkapi Palace.. hello food!

As we walked out, we passed through this garden with these stones laid in a circle.. I dunno wat reason they do that lah.. and then Ace boh liao go and run round the circle...


And then trip just as he was about to complete the circle! Hahaha!


Still looks like disney land to me..

As we walked down the hill again to look for food.. I peeped out and saw the tulip garden again... MUST VISIT LATER AFTER LUNCH!!!

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