Turkey: Istanbul and Bosphorous Strait

Spring Break Day Seven (continued from part six)

After waking up, I had breakfast at another one of the many restaurants in the district and made my way to the Ottoman palace complex, only a five minute walk from my hotel. Known as Topkapı Sarayı, it served as the seat of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th to 19th centuries. It sits at the north of Sultanahmet on a hill above the Bosphorous Strait, on the European side of Istanbul.

The palace itself is completely intact and the landscape on the property is well-groomed. The size of the palace campus is overwhelming. On the site are a number of different buildings, though I don't remember their names. Perhaps the most impressive displays are the Treasury buildings, which house enormous amounts of gold and jewels. The Sultans clearly loved their treasure.

There is a good view of the Bosphorous Strait and the Asian side of Istanbul from the palace.

The gate to the palace campus.



The lawn.



Various points from around the palace.








Overlooking the Bosphorous from the palace.



After visiting the palace, I took a walk out from Sultanahmet down to the docks where the ferry leaves. A man was selling tickets for a cruise along the Bosphorous for only 20 YTL, so I figured I'd see what it was like. It was a two hour trip along both sides of the Bosphorous, where I got to see nearly all of coastal Istanbul, so it was a good choice.

Views from the Bosphorous of Istanbul.





After the boat trip, I walked from the docks to Taxsim, which is considered "downtown" Istanbul. It's a very long walk; Istanbul is a huge city in terms of area. I enjoyed the area around Taxsim much more than Sultanahmet. There aren't any significant landmarks in Taxsim Square, but it is busy - busier than anywhere I've seen in New York City. Everything had a very Western feel to it, and I could hardly tell that I was in an Islamic city. I haven't visited any cities in Europe, but it seems like downtown Istanbul would not be too much different from its European counterparts. Veiled women in this part of the city were the exception rather than the rule, and everyone wore clothing that would look normal in a Western country. Despite this, it was still obvious that I was a foreigner, since no Turk or Kurd has the same skin and hair color as me.

From Taxsim, I walked a bit north to my destination, the National Military Museum. This one was well-labeled and didn't contain the obvious nationalistic bias like the corresponding museum in Egypt. It covered artifacts from the Byzantine Empire to modern day, though mostly from the early Ottoman Empire. I arrived too close to closing time to see the second floor, but I got to see most of it, and it was a worthwhile visit.

Exhibits from the museum.




There is a monument outside the museum to a soldier named Seyid Obasi, who reportedly lifted a projectile weighing 250 kilos by himself at a critical point in battle. It turns out he wasn't able to lift it again when he was asked to do it for a promotional photograph. I think the story is exaggerated, since the world record for lifting an object overhead is right around that weight.

Statue of Seyid Obasi.


I walked back to Taxsim after that and down Istiklal Street, a major road from the main square. The amount of people was incredible, many of them young adults just hanging out with their friends. I went to a restaurant called Haci Baba, which was somewhat fancy, though it was relatively inexpensive. Turkish cuisine has a reputation for being among the best in the world, and all of my dining experiences in Turkey supported this. After spending some time at an Internet cafe, I began the long walk back to Sultanahmet and back to my hotel.

After my first two days in Turkey, I was still unable to communicate anything meaningful in Turkish other than "thank you," but I began to notice some similarities between Arabic and Turkish. None of the basic words for communication bore any resemblance to Arabic, but some nouns were Arabic words that have been pronounced in Turkish. For example, merkezi corresponds to markaz, meaning "center." Camii (pronounced jamee) corresponds to jame'a, meaning "mosque." Askeri corresponds to 'askareya, meaning "military." I had learned the rules of how to pronounce the Turkish letters, so I was able to pick up a few words by reading signs and labels. The good thing about Turkish is that most of the letters are the same as in English, so reading is not a major barrier to communication like in Arabic.