Topkapı Sarayı =Topkapı Palace

Topkapı Palace

Topkapı Palace view snapped from the sea

Yup! The title suggests the topic. Topkapı Palace..One must see Palace if u ever go to İstanbul. I wont become like a tourist guide and try to explain the technical terms and what not..I leave that to u to learn hehehehe..the easier thing to do is to come n see the palace for urself :0)

Anyway, it was Thursday. Halil needed to go to work early that day. He had things to do. So the kids n i decided to join him a few hours later for a visit to the palace. Anyway, around 2.30pm, we met in Sultan Ahmet area.And there goes the journey of rejoicing the history of the ottoman empire inside the castle.

The topkapı palace area is totally awfully big. You have to walk a lot.In fact, according to the guide book, the surface area is approximately 700 000 metres square, almost half the size of the kingdom of Monacco..!!! So u can imagine how big that is right?

I tell you friends, there r loads of things to see..things to fascinate u..loads of buildings to enter. Historical facts etc etc...With two tired n hungry kids, i could not remember everything i saw..but two buildings captivated my mind.. The jewellery building n the holy relics building. The stones used in making the jewelleries r awesome ..even hatice kept telling us..*i want to have something like that one day. Çok guzel ya (very beautiful)*.

To give u some idea of the things to be seen there..i have added a slide show containing a few pictures of the things on display. These r the pics i scanned from the tourist guide book coz photo snapping of those displayed things r prohibited. To see the real things r to be fascinated by them.. these pictures do not do justice to the beauty of the real things..Still..



And the holy relics...That building is considered to be the most beautiful structure of the palace complex. Frankly speaking i didnt notice. I was too busy looking at the things on display. When i entered that building..terasa syahdu dan hibanya...my eyes were watery to be seeing the holy relics of islam there...with the sound of a live Quran read by the guy on duty there.. (İn that building, Al- Quran is read 24/7.)...u cant help urself but to feel this feeling of ..i dunno...memang hiba gila..As u can see in the next slide, u can even see the footprint of Rasulullah (the prophet Muhammad)..There r 6 of the footprints and topkapi palace shows one to the public.. I could not find the pics but there r also a lot of the keys of kaabah there.. panjang gila kunci dia.. and the swords of the 4 khalifah...Khalifah Ali had the biggest sword while Khalifah Abu Bakar with the smallest sword..all black in color...really really interesting to see.



There is also one part of the castle that should be visited..The Harem. That is where the women (wifes, concubine..bla bla..u know what i mean) lived. Unfortunately, u have to pay again for the entrance to the harem area.Being the entrance fee to harem area a bit expensive n the kids were already dead on their feet, we decided to visit the harem some other time. (To enter topkapı palace, u will need to pay the entrance fee and another fee to enter harem)

It was really an enjoyable trip. It was wonderful to be there....U need at least 3 hours..i repeat..at LEAST 3 Hours to cover the grounds of the palace. A must see..with comfortable clothing n no high heels definitely..kalau jatuh terseliuh or sakit kaki jangan menangis hehehe..

If u have very young kids, the trip will be tiring for them in the real sense..but the chance for them to run freely in the garden area on the grass may persuade them to let the parents drag them to see the relics on display..We snapped a few photos of ourselves but the pictures r not developed yet..Anyway.. Topkapı Palace..a must see.. jangan lupa yea?

And my dearest Hubby.. After almost 7 years living in istanbul..Thank YoU for Finally showing me one castle in istanbul hehehehehe..

I thought among all those tourists visiting the palace, i would at least see one person from Malaysia atau seangkatan dengannya..TAk ADerrrr pon... waaaaaaaa sedihnyaaaaaa...ada la group tu dari jepun la..group cakap spanish la...orang india la..orang yg seiras melayu..atau malaysia..tak ader langusng...waaaaaaaaa...takkan selamanya nak tengok muka mat salleh kot..waaaaaaaaaaaaa.. hehhe ignore me..this is the nonsense simah speaking again..

Topkapı...memang without any doubt, i will drag halil there one day again hrheheheheheheh.. lepas pi topkapi palace.... dont forget to eat Sultan Ahmet Köfte.. Sedapppppppp.. iskh..lupa lak nak snap gambar köfte.. masa tu lapar gila..terus pelahap ja köfte tanpa pandang kiri kanan.. :0)