During Turkey 2.0, I am going to be a bit more of a tourist than I was the first time around, when I didn't even set foot on Sultanahmet, the old part of the city. On this trip, we head there on my first morning, straight to Topkapi Palace, where centuries of Ottoman sultans ruled the empire.
The grounds themselves are enormous, occupying the eastern tip of the Eminomu peninsula. The outermost ring is a large public park. From there, a series of courtyards bring you deeper and deeper into the palace.
The place I was most excited to see was the harem, which literally translates as private living quarters in Turkish. This is where the sultan, his wive(s), his consorts, and his attendants all lived. Entry was forbidden to outsiders when it was an active palace, with trespassing resulting in immediate decapitation. The current managers of the place had helpfully secured a customized rope to let us know when we had arrived.
It was a gorgeous place. So many of the walls, ceilings, and floors had intricate detail. Much of it had been done by Minar Sinan, the most famous architect of the Ottoman era.
Some of the stories were great, too. At the beginning of the empire, succession was always hotly contested and so oftentimes many of the sultan's sons were killed by others to protect their power. At some point, a sultan reformed this practice by ensconcing non-crown princes in the harem, never to leave. Some of those rooms had the feeling of wistfulness, of constrained lives.
A quick walk on the deck in one part of the palace and you could see why they chose this location. The view was tremendous.
I was so inspired by the place that I did my best to look sultan-ly.
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