Istanbul – Topkapi palace

So after a hearty breakfast, it was off to the Topkapi palace.  Home of the sultans.

First we went to the Harem

One of the courtyards.  This is where the favoured wives live.  As well as the 100 other girls.

And they are guarded by the eunuch guards.  So no naughtiness allowed!

It is a jail really.  With really nice doors

And nice floors

And water faucets

No sign of a gilded toilet seat though to my great disappointment

Still, a gilded cage is still a cage

And I guess you could also spy your escape route in the harbour.

In general I found the palace to be interesting, but not really that impressive.  As one of my more articulate travelling companions said “can’t touch the forbidden city”.

Then again, this maybe a product of my lack of sleep.  Everytime we stopped anywhere I could sit down, I had a little doze.  So after finishing the palace we walked back in double time past the now crowded blue mosque

Say hi to the tourists!

And a quick detour to smell the roses

We then arrived back at our hotel for a quick nap (2 hours of uncounciousness for me).  Unforuntely, I also found out I had been exiled to the prison cell in the basement of the hotel with no windows.  But the dead do not complain.

Anyway…

Once I was revived we went off for lunch.

Turkish food!  Clockwise from the top.  Octopus, prawns, pasley salad and mashed eggplant.  Mmhmmmm

And this is fish, squid, prawns and potatoes.  Yum.

Well, actually it was pretty good, a bit pricey, but things would get better on our trip.



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