Topkapi (Top-kap-uh) Palace is one of Istanbul's crown jewels, low and expansive with several large courtyards around a few key buildings. It's gently domed, rising not nearly as high as some of the city's more massive mosques and palaces. Still, as home to the Ottoman sultans for almost 4 centuries (1460s-1839) it was built (and enlarged) to impress. The location is high on a hill, right next to where the Byzantine palace stood. Apparently the 4 Seasons hotel wanted to expand its current facilities and bought the land adjacent to Topkapi, only to find during excavation that they'd hit the Byzantine palace. Ali told us that the hotel project will go ahead anyway; they'll just have a glass floor so guests can see the ruins as they move about the lobby. A bit bizarre, but if you're into top dollar novelty, go for it.
My shots of Topkapi cannot do it justice. Again, and a bit sheepishly, I recommend that you check out pictures of the place online. You definitely want to see the jewels from the treasury--Liv and Ruby would have loved a headpieces that had a huge emerald and a huge ruby surrounded by dripping diamonds, it was very Cher in Vegas, but the real thing. My favorite building was the library, which as my friend Jim says, shows that the structure was designed with reading in mind. It has 4 low couches (I didn't see any proper chairs all day) that recede into wall spaces, huge windows for ventilation (with elaborate inlayed shutters), and recessed bookshelves that blend into the tiled walls. Gorgeous. Topkapi has hundreds of thousands of Iznik tiles, and they're so beautiful, so cool and inviting, that if I lived in a warmed climate I would want much of my house surfaced in them. But Iznik tiles are several hundred dollars apiece, if you buy the real thing. Sigh.
We had one of our best lunches yet at the palace overlooking the water. Then down the lane to the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, built in part with the fine money Heinrich Schliemann had to pay for smuggling out what he thought was Priam's treasure from Troy. Creep. At least the Turks got a headstart on their fine museum from that debacle. The highlights for me were the sarcophagus built supposedly for Alexander the Great. It was found in Sidon, in modern-day Lebanon. The workmanship on it suggests that the stone is soft, like cheese or butter. The degree of detail is astounding: you can see the muscles in the faces of the horses as they strain to their riders' movements. You can see the tension in the pointing fingers of the combatants. It's amazing. There were pieces from Xanthos, from Pergamom, and from other places we've visited. Plus the cuneiform examples were as good as the ones in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara. To the average American blog-reader, a museum name like that might be like taking a Xanax (sp?) But to the contrary, it's really interesting to see a love poem in 13th c. BC cuneiform, or a kid's homework tablet. I cracked up. I will upload pics when I get the chance.
The tile museum could be my next residence. All those deep blue wall spaces made me feel calm and warm. There's something about that color that is really soothing.
Jim and I ventured out again last night: corba (chor-ba: soup) for dinner and beer for research. But we didn't end up talking to anyone but ourselves. Poor Jim. He's had to listen to the same half-dozen Wendy stories 11 times each. What a patient guy.
Carlton arrives today and then the real fun begins! We're off to the Prince Islands in 30 minutes. Looking back over this post, I'm wondering how much of this I said yesterday. That's the problem with getting only 5 hours of sleep day after day. I am becoming a jello brain. Please forgive me if I repeat myself...that seems to be part of the subtext of this trip.
Iyi gunlar! (ee-ee gewn-LAR: have a good day!)
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