This was our highlight dinner evening and we were brought to a massive nightclub which obviously caters to tour groups.  We were all busy chatting away on the coach and I believe it was the Hilton Hotel that we went to, but I couldn’t be sure.  The entrance to the nightclub must have been through a side entrance as I really didn’t remember going through any hotel lobby.   The place looked a bit on the cheap side I thought, which gave me a sinking feeling in my stomach.  Entree was quickly slapped on to our tables and included a range of the usual Turkish dishes, like eggplant dip, cheese pastries, etc.  The main was a meat dish and so our local guide ordered us a vegetarian dish.  There was a lengthy discussion between the guide and the restaurant staff as to what could be prepared for us and it was eventually explained to us that we’d get a plate of mixed vegetables, which was fine by us.  However, when the main arrived, what we ended up getting was quite something else, i.e. a plate of boiled rice with potato chips – and that was our highlight dinner!

The entertainment began with a couple of dance troups doing their regional dances, some of which were very energetic indeed.  This was followed by belly dancing performance which was the best that I’ve seen in my whole life.  There were three women, doing very different styles of dances.  Belly dancing is a very complex dance form and to the uninitiated like myself, I couldn’t tell the difference between Egyptian, Turkish or other middle-eastern forms.  Apparently, Turkish belly dancing style comprises a five part routine.  The opening is fast and exciting and usually accompanied by the dancer playing zils which are Turkish finger cymbals.  The second part is often a chiftetelli, which is a slow movement which lends itself to flowing veil dances, snakey arm movements, and sensual floorwork.  The third song is upbeat and lively again, followed by the fourth part which is usually a fast drum solo.  The concluding part is a merry piece of music, once again incorporating the use of the zils.  Next time I see another show, I will know to watch out for these parts.

Unlike the belly dancing that I’ve seen before, these three girls were young, really attractive and had trim and tort bodies.  They shimmied and twirled away and they were real technicians in their performance.  Their movements were so fast that from where I was, it was quite impossible to get good shots.  Fortunately, Tony’s got a video recording which we hope to share this with you before too long.

Helen 

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If you happen to be a vegetarian or fishertarian as we are, then dining in Turkey is not a problem.  Many of the Turkish dishes are based on aubergine, zucchini, tomatoes or peppers, usually stuffed with rice and pine nuts or cheese.  Some of the vegetables are stuffed with meat, but even if you avoid these, there’s still plenty to choose from.  There is also a wide variety of dishes based on pulses, cooked with chopped vegetables.  The dishes are attractively displayed with a blend of different colored vegetables.

Traditional Turkish meals often start with a meze plate.  This starter dish usually comes with a combination of iman bayuldi, cucumber and yoghurt, stuffed vine leaves, borek (tiny fine pastry filled with cheese), etc.  Iman bayuldi or the iman fainted, is one of the popular appetisers.  The dish was so named because it has a lot of garlic in it, which as the story goes, caused the iman to faint.  The trick is to pace yourself and not eat yourself to a standstill, because there is the main dish to come and then followed by deserts. 

The mains are usually quite simple in style, e.g. grilled fish with rice and salad.  I often feel that this is quite a let down after the exotic looking starters.  To accompany your rich meal, you can have raki, the Turkish national drink which is an aniseed flavoured spirit – Be warned that this is quite an acquired taste.  The Turkish may claim that their wine is surprisingly good, however given their hot summer climate and lack of proper storage, I wouldn’t get too excited about the wine.  A non-alcoholic option is ayran, a yoghurt drink which is served chilled.

We had a very pleasant lunch at the Lale Pudding Shop near the Sultan Ahmet Mosque.  From Tony’s smile, you can assume that he was quite happy with his meal.  Bon appetit!

Helen 

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If ever you need convincing that the Turkish like their sweets, a visit to the Egyptian Spice Market will do the job.  Here you’ll find all types of dried fruits and sweets, the king of them being lokoum, or Turkish Delight.  These heavenly sweets found their way into the Western world in the 19th century.  It is believed that a British traveller to Turkey became very fond of the sweet and shipped cases home, calling his cargo Turkish Delight.

I was curious to find out the origin of the Turkish Delight and a google search threw up a story dating back to Ottoman times.   It was believed that the sultan so wanted to please his many wives and therefore ordered his confectioner to create a unique sweet.  Under pressure to create something that would please his Sultan, the confectioner blended a concoction of sugar syrup, various flavourings, nuts and dried fruits, then bound them together with an Arabic gum.  After several attempts, this most delectable sweet emerged from the royal kitchens.  The Sultan was very pleased with these delicious and mouth-watering little treats that he proclaimed the sweetmaker the court’s chief confectioner!  And hence this is the story of how turkish delight came to be created.  From there on, a plate of Turkish Delight was served at daily feasts in the Ottoman court. I think this is a great story and I’m happy to believe it.

There are so many varieties of Turkish Delight, including pistachio, hazelnut, almond, mint, etc.  The lastest addition to this list of varieties includes one called Viagra.   It is believed that Picasso enjoyed Turkish Delight daily to improve his concentration and Napoleon and Winston Churchill relished pistachio filled Turkish Delights.

Turkish Delights come in nice boxes and are a great gift for friends or family back home.  However, beware that they can add a bit of weight to your luggage.

Helen

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A visit to a Turkish carpet centre is unavoidable on any organized tour to Turkey.  We’ve been to a few carpet centres in the past, but nevertheless, we still find the experience interesting.

On arrival you are shown into a large showroom filled with rolls of carpet on the floor as well as carpets hanging on the walls around the room.  Once everyone’s seated on the benches along the walls, raki or apple tea is offered.  Be careful with the raki, or you might find yourself owning a carpet that you had no intention to buy.

Your host, the showroom manager does his introductory bit and proceeds to provide some explanation of the various types of carpet and the regions they come from.  His floor assistants then unfurls various carpets and this is the fun bit to watch.  The rate at which the carpets are rolled out or spun in the air before opening out on the floor is an entertaining performance.  They do it so effortlessly, as if the carpets were weightless, but as anyone who has experience with carpets know, they are really quite heavy, especially the larger ones.  You’ve got to give credit to these guys for putting on such a show with each group of visitors, especially when they know that only a few visitors will end up buying anything, if at all.

Carpet shops  abound all over Istanbul and the variety and range of quality is so huge that it’s important to do some research prior to leaving home.  Just because there is an abundance of carpets, does not necessarily mean that you’ll get it cheaper in Turkey.  You might just get it cheaper back home, when the shops are having their eternal ‘closing down’ sales.  However, if you’re serious or toying with the idea of getting a carpet, then make sure you know the dimensions of the room it’s intended for and the color scheme.  One lady in our group was keen to buy one, but had no idea of the size of her room and couldn’t quite describe the color she wanted to match with, so she left empty-handed.

Helen

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Apart from the Treasury, the other most popular part of the Palace is The Harem.  You’d need a separate ticket to enter the harem and there is a usually long queue to get in.  The harem was the private zone of the palace  and the sultan’s family, siblings and concubines lived here, together with the eunuchs who served this large family lived.  Life in the harem was presided over by the sultan’s mother whose apartments lay in the centre, allowing her customary domination and manipulation.

The harem consists of long narrow hallways and there are some 400 rooms scattered around small courtyards.  Over the years, it was altered and enlarged.  The harem was strictly closed to outsiders, and of course it became the subject of many stories or scandals over the centuries. The concubines that served the sultan and his family were either chosen from among the most beautiful and healthy girls of different races or they were presented to the court as gifts.

In 1909, the harem was disbanded and some of the rooms were then opened to visitors in 1960.

Helen 

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The Summer Pavilion was built by Sultan Ibrahim in 1640.  As this place was used for the circumcision ceremonies of the crown princes, it is also called the Circumcision Room.  The walls are covered with rare samples of Ottoman tiles.  The most important of these are the blue and white tile panels, dated 1529, influenced by far-eastern ceremics on the chamber facade.

The Revan Kiosk was built in 1635-6 to commemorate the Revan Campaign and victory of Murad IV.  It is also called the Sank Odasi, the Chamber of Turbans, as the turbans worn by the sultans were kept here. 

With its marble decorations and tiles dating to the 17th century, this pavilion is one of the last examples of classical Ottoman architecture.

The building was used as the Library of the Privy Chamber after 1733, with the donations of Sultan Mahmud I.

Helen

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As mentioned earlier, The Treasury is the most popular part of the Topkapi Palace Museum for most visitors.  It holds the most amazing and richest collection of its kind in the world.  Anywhere else in the Western world, the exhibits would have been held in grander rooms and under heavier security.  Because of its popularity, the rooms are usually jam-packed with visitors and it’s difficult to have time to read the description of the items. All the pieces exhibited in the four rooms are authentic originals.

There are four rooms, containing masterpieces from different centuries and exquisite creations from the Far East, India and Europe. In each room there is an imperial throne from a different era. In the first room, ceremonial costumes, weapons, water pipes, Turkish coffee cups and other wares, all inlaid with gold and precious stones are the more important items.

My favourite room is in the second hall and is also known as the Emerald Room.  Here you’ll see dazzling displays of aigrettes and pendants decorated with emeralds and other jewels. There’s a bowl of uncut emeralds, some weighing quite a bit, and the famous Topkapi Dagger (the symbol of the museum) decorated with three large emeralds are also on display here. No matter how many times you see the exhibits, you’ll still be amazed at the exquisiteness of the pieces.  Standing in front of the bowl of emeralds, I always dream that maybe just one piece could be give to me … no such luck!

Speaking of luck, one of the most famous diamonds in the world, the 86-carat Spoon Maker’s (or Pigot) Diamond, is also found here. This 86-carat diamond was found in a rubbish dump in Egrikapi during the reign of Mohammed IV.  Believe it, Believe it Not – it was bought by a peddlar for 3 spoons! I would have given my whole set of cutlery to get that rock. 

The third room contains enameled objects, medals and decorations of the State that were presented to the sultans by foreign monarchs.  There is also the twin solid gold candelabras, each weighing 48 kilograms.  The Golden Throne is the most famous throne in the palace and was used by the sultans during coronations and religious holidays.

The balcony connecting the third and the fourth rooms offers a breathtaking view of the entrance to the Bosphorus and the Asian coast. In the fourth room, a magnificent throne of Indian-Persian origin is on display. There are also many other objects encrusted with precious stones of different sizes to captivate visitors.

Unfortunately, photography is not permitted in the Treasury rooms and we’re not able to share those precious moments with you.

Helen

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As you enter the Second Courtyard, you will find the Royal Kitchen with twenty chimneys. When the kitchens were functional, there were over a thousand cooks plus assistants, preparing and serving meals for various sections of the palace.  It was a structured kitchen with different uniforms being worn by the different roles e.g. desert chef, main meals, etc.

The Exhibit Hall for the Chinese and Japanese Porcelains displays the most representative examples of the existing pieces of porcelain.  Approximately 2,000 of the 12,000 pieces of Chinese and Japanese porcelain in the palace collection are on display in this section.  Some of these porcelain were gifts to the Ottoman palace, whereas others were imported.  The most highly valued Chinese porcelain were used daily by its royal occupants.  Selected pieces are displayed in a chronological order, ranging from the Sung and Yuan dynasties to the Ming and Ching dynasties.

Sections of the kitchens have been kept as they were when in use, while another part is allocated to porcelain and glassware produced in Istanbul. Another section houses the collection of silverware and European porcelain. The unique Chinese celadons are in the room to the right. The exhibition of blue and white, monochrome and polychrome porcelain objects is followed by the Japanese porcelain collection. In the special kitchen where sweets used to be made, everyday kitchen utensils, coffee sets and gold-plated and copper wares are displayed.  The range of giant pots, all in very good condition, was quite impressive.

Helen

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The Second Courtyard of Topkapi Palace includes the Kitchens and the Porcelain collection, including one of the world’s richest collection of Chinese porcelain.

The Silk Road is noted through history as the route of cultural and commerical contacts between Eastern and Western Asia.  Beginning in China, they mainly consisted of three routes which were interconnected by secondary ones.  Their start and end locations, in addition to the important centers they passed through, have been mapped out.

From historical documents, it can be established that Chinese porcelains were generally transported by the sea route, however, there is also evidence that some transportation of porcelain by land did occur.  A tile painting in the Royal Kitchen (see above) depicts the transportation of porcelain.  Chinese porcelains that were produced especially for export were loaded into ships in the harbours of China and these travelled the sea route following the south coast of India as well as the south coast of Arabian peninsula, passing through the Malacca Straits, keeping the Ceylon island on their left until the Red Sea.  When they reached Jeddah, they were loaded onto stronger ships and transported to the northern most point of the Red Sea.  From the Red Sea, they go via Cairo then by the Nile River to Alexandria, and finally the Mediterranean, Istanbul and Europe.

The journey was very difficult and hazardous, however, that didn’t deter the Ottoman sultans from loving their Chinese porcelains.  They kept them in their private treasuries and used them for their own special banquets.  In the Topkapi Palace collection, there are 2,000 pieces of Chinese porcelains from the 13th – 19th centuries.  The Chinese porcelain also influenced Iznik’s porcelain production from the 1520′s onwards.  Iznik was a traditional centre of Byzantine earthenware production and in the 15th century, under the Ottomans, the centre of tile production moved to Iznik.  For a while, copies of Chinese porcelain were made in the Iznik atelliers, but these never gained the same level of appreciation as the Chinese for the Ottoman Sultans.

Helen

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Topkapi Palace was the residence of the Ottoman sultans from the 15th to 19th centuries.  When Sultan Mehmet conquered Istanbul in 1453, he made Istanbul the capital of his empire.  His first palace was set in the middle of the town. In the 1470s, he built his second palace and initially named it the New Palace.  The palace was subsequently renamed Topkapi Palace.

After the move of the Sultans to Dolmabahce Palace in 1853, Topkapi lost its importance as the official royal residence.  It was left to deteriorate for a period and finally regained its former beauty after fifty years of continuous restoration in the Republican era.  Topkapi was converted into a museum in 1924. I’m sure the Sultans would have moved a lot of their expensive and magnificent treasures to the new palace, however Topkapi still has a breathtaking collection of jewels (to die for!), weapons, porcelain, etc.  Most of the objects exhibited in the palace today are unique masterpieces.

Topkapi is one of the must see places on your visit to Istanbul and its possible to spend a whole day here.  My favourite section is the Treasury, where you can see bowls of emeralds, saphire, diamond displays, etc. Each time we’ve been there, it was an opportunity to salivate at the remarkable pieces royal ornaments covered with precious stones and to hope that maybe someone would give me just one of the stones.  Unfortunately too, photography is not allowed in the Treasury as it would have nice to share with you pictures of those stones that would obsess anyone.  

The private palaces of the Sultans, have been transformed into a series of great museums at the request of Ataturk. Topkapi is a classical example of Turkish palace architecture.  Tree-shaded courtyards with monumental gates open onto one another and each one serving a different purpose. The courtyards are surrounded by functional buildings, e.g. the First Court was the service area and the Second Court housed the divan and was flanked by the kitchen and stables, etc.  Since its construction, the palace developed constantly with alterations and additions made by each sultan.

Our visit today started at the royal kitchen.  The number of giant pots and utensils give evidence of the size of the community in the palace.

Helen

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