DOLMABAHCE PALACE - Istanbul

I have visited many palaces in my life, but what I have seen here seemed to me the most beautiful one. Even the "Chateau de Versailles" the very famous Palace near Paris , looks like a garden shed to me, compared to this one !

The Dolmabahce Palace is not that old, it was built between 1844 and 1853, and is a three-storied building 284 m / 932 ft long. The 285 rooms, the harem, the 46 lounges (and 6 hammams) are heavily furnished and decorated in rococo style. Marble and alabaster, bronze, gold, silver, Baccarat and Bohemian crystals, silk, porcelain have been used in abundance. 14 tons of gold and 40 tons of silver have been used for the decoration of the palace !

Unfortunately it was not allowed to take any pictures inside the palace, so I had to google to find some on Internet, just to show this unbelievable decoration ! It's almost impossible to describe.

The Palace was the administrative center with the last of Ottoman Sultans residing here. After the foundation of the Turkish Republic by Ataturk he transferred all government functions to Istanbul and also occupied a small room and his office in the Dolmabahce Palace. It became Ataturk's home where he welcomed his foreign guests and made a practical center for national, historical and language congress and for international conferences.

Dolmabahce palace has a great meaning for Turkish people because Ataturk lived in the palace and spent the most serious period of his illness here. He passed away 10 th of November 1938 at 9:05 AM, all the clocks in the palace were stopped at this time. Now only the clock in his room shows this hour. His rather modest flat was one of the appartments located in the ancient "Harem" part, which was very interesting to visit.

The guide told us that when there was still the Sultan, each of his wives had her own appartment with a room for her personal maid. Of course only when she was the mother of a son ! It was the Sultan's mother who selected one of the wives for a night with her son. We went through her appartment where the event took place. Very interesting story ! (Talk about mothers in law) But I suppose the Sultan too had a word to say. We saw some flats, the hammam and even the Sultan's bed, which somebody of our group named "the battle field".

Today the Palace is mostly museum but is still used for official receptions of other countries leaders or Kings or Queens. Even Obama has been here.

The palace in all it's beauty seen from the Bosphorus

My friend Dominique buys her ticket and has to go through security to have her bag checked

Then we had to go through a scanner. I found this very good, at least the risk to be blown up by some crazy guys is kept to a minimum.

The long street along a very well kept park to the Palace entrance.

Of course there was a guardian and the poor guy had to stay still like a statue while we the tourists took advantage to have a picture made with him. He didn't even move an eye ! Of course I did the same as all the others.

Apparently we were not the only once to visit the palace

Before we were allowed to step in we had to cover our shoes with these pink plastic bags. We all looked very elegant ! But at least the beautiful carpets and floors were not damaged.

Outside throught the window I tried to take some pictures. After these three I was told that even from outside I wasn't allowed to photograph the inside !

It's in my nature to do what I am not supposed to do so I managed to take this picture of the famous crystal staircase, by being very discrete, but not enough, because one guardian gave me a suspicious look, and I didn't dare to take other pictures I wanted to keep my camera !

The following photos I googled on Internet

Some other pictures of this shiny crystal staircase.

Just to give you an idea of the furniture and decoration !

The explanation were given by an English speaking Turkish guide. It was very interesting because the people of our group came from all countries over the world. I met two women from Switzerland who had some difficulties to understand everything so I helped a little.

There is not much to comment outside ! It's just so nice to walk around.

The Clock Tower is a very impressive architectural work.

One of the fountains

and Lion statues laying in the grass

From the park, the view over the Bosphorus is stunning !

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SULEYMANIYE MOSQUE & THE BASILICA CISTERN-ISTANBUL

This picture is not from me of course, it's only to show the whole mosque.

After our arrival in Istanbul we didn't loose any time and visited the Suleymaniye Mosque. This mosque is the second largest but by far the finest and most magnificiant of the imperial mosque complexes in the city. Suleymaniye Mosque is an architectural masterpiece. It dates from 1590. You can read everything about it in the above link.

There were no guided visits and no tourists at all, because the mosque is being renovated completely and you can't see everything. But what we saw was beautiful enough to imagine the rest.

Here are bassins and running water to wash the feet before entering the mosque

From the outside. As you can see there are metal supports to keep the colons straight.

The inside made me speachless ! It was another world

Gorgeous ceiling decorations and the beautiful cristal lustre

in a corner the prayer carpets were stacked. There were not many people in there so we had enough time (and space) to walk around.

When we left the mosque it started to rain ! Buckets of water were falling down and although we seeked refuge under a thick tree, we became wet. Fortunately the shower didn't last long and we quickly crossed the street and entered the Basilica Cistern.

The Basilica Cistern (Underground Cistern) was built in 532, probably as an enlargement of an earlier cistern. It was used as a reservoir for water storage for the Great Palace and other buildings. During the Ottoman Period, the water was used for Topkapi Palace and watering the gardens of it.

The interior of Underground Cistern is excellent. It is 138 m, 452 ft long by 65m, 213 ft wide. There are 336 columns in the cistern in 12 rows.

At the entrance

A snack and souvenir shop

and we still wet fitting in this special atmosphere. There were water running between the colons and fat fishes swimming in it, fed by the tourists of course.

It was a magical world

Two columns reuse blocks were carved with the visage of Medusa. A legend says that Medusa, with her hair of snakes, could turn anyone who looked at her into stone. I looked and even dared to take pictures, and I am still not a stone. Probably I am not normal. They were terrifying not really a decoration for your house entrance.

Doesn't it look magical ?

Between 1985-1988, the Municipality of Istanbul cleaned and restored it thoroughly and built a wooden walkway between the columns. In addition to that there are special effects presented by a light and sound show.

Because of its magic atmosphere and great acoustics, this cistern is now hosting many Classical Music Concerts.

The cistern was also used as a location for the 1963 James Bond film "From Russia with Love".

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