Day 03 (27.10. 2023) Istanbul to Safranbolu

Woke up at 5a.m. as usual. Went down for breakfast at 6:30 (glad this hotel starts breakfast earlier than most hotels). The buffet breakfast was sumptuous with a wide variety of healthy salad, vegetables...especially the choices of cheese and olives. I couldn't remember the names of the cheese I have tasted but they were all yummy. As usual, there's an egg station cooking omelette and fried eggs...but they also have boiled eggs as well as poached eggs on spinach (yum!)

After checking out the hotel, we went to the beautiful Sultan Ahmet Park. The park lying between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia with a large fountain in the middle. Naturally it's crowded with tourists and locals. We were scheduled to visit the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia when we return to Istanbul the last two days of our itinerary.

After we left the park, we walked (10 minutes) to the Topkapi Palace, or the Seraglio, a large museum and library in the east of the Faith District of Istanbul.

From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, and was the main residence of its sultans. Construction, ordered by the Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, began in 1459, six years after the conquest of Constantinople. Topkapı was originally called the "New Palace" to distinguish it from the Old Palace in Beyazıt Square. It was given the name Topkapı, meaning Cannon Gate, in the 19th century. The complex expanded over the centuries, with major renovations after the 1509 earthquake and the 1665 fire. The palace complex consists of four main courtyards and many smaller buildings.

After the 17th century, Topkapı gradually lost its importance. The sultans of that period preferred to spend more time in their new palaces. In 1856 Sultan Abdulmejid I decided to move the court to the newly built Dolmabahçe Palace. Topkapı retained some of its functions, including the imperial treasury, library and mint.

After the end of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, a government decree dated April 3, 1924 transformed Topkapı into a museum.

The palace complex has hundreds of rooms and chambers, but only the most important are accessible to the public as of 2020, including the Ottoman Imperial Harem and the treasury, called hazine where the Spoonmaker's Diamond and the Topkapi Dagger are on display (pictures below). The museum collection also includes Ottoman clothing, weapons, armor, miniatures, religious relics, and illuminated manuscripts such as the Topkapi manuscript. Officials of the ministry as well as armed guards of the Turkish military guard the complex. The Topkapı Palace forms a part the Historic Areas of Istanbul, a group of sites in Istanbul that UNESCO recognised as a World Heritage Site in 1985.

Estimates of the total size of the complex varies from around 146.4 acres to 173 acres.

The Imperial Gate is the main entrance into the First Courtyard. This massive gate, originally dating from 1478, is now covered in 19th-century marble. Its central arch leads to a high-domed passage; gilded Ottoman calligraphy adorns the structure at the top, with verses from the Qur'an and tughras of the sultans.

Palace kitchen

Panoramic view of the Marmara Sea from the Palace. On this balcony, overlooking the Bosphorus Strait, one can see the European side and the Asian side of Istanbul.

Inner Courtyard

Dome ceiling of the Imperial Hall.

Iznik tiles decorated the interior walls

Throne of the Eve of Balram and Its Pendant (Throne of Sutan Ahmed I) - 1603-17 AD - made of walnut wood. Its entire surface is decorated with a mosaic of mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell.

On the board it says "When the sultans died their bodies washed at this marble fountain, which was repaired during the reign of Sultan Mahmud II. The fountain's inscription in praise of this is headed by Sultan Mahmud's tugra (royal monogram).

Upper terrace.

The Spoonmaker's Diamond - the fourth largest diamond of its kind in the world. Set in silver, surrounded by a double row of 49 old-mine cut brilliant diamonds. No one knows the origin of the diamond or why it is named Spoonmaker's Diamond, though there are many versions of the story behind it, none was proven.

The Topkapi Dagger - an emeralds studded curved dagger with a clock embedded in the pommel. The dagger was commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud I (r. 1730–54) as a peace offering to the Shah of Iran, Nadir Shah (r. 1736-47).

Footprint of prophet Muhammad

Relic fragment of John The Baptist's arm and skull bone.

Handkerchief Ottoman, H. 1328/C.E. 1910-1911

The inscriptions include a Declaration of God's Unity (middle), the names of the four callphs (four corners)

Turkish Muslims perform the prayer ritual (namaz) five times daily

Below are some of the miniature collections on display:

The case for a beard hair from Prophet Muhammad

Exterior courtyards of the Palace.

Fountains where Wudu is performed.

Wudu is an important part of ritual purity in Islam. It is the Islamic procedure for cleansing parts of the body, a type of ritual purification or ablution. The 4 Fardh (mandatory) acts of Wudu are: washing the face then the arms then wiping the head, then washing or wiping the feet, and doing these in order, without any breaks between them.

There were so much to see that one can spend days here and still not able to see all.

We then went for lunch in a "so called" Asian restaurant, Phoenix Terrace. It was so so, a mix grill of beef patti, lamb and chicken, nothing to write home about.

After lunch and a long, but not boring as the scenery was beautiful, bus ride we arrived Safranbolu, a World Heritage site, where we would stay overnight at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Safranbolu is a town in the Black Sea region of northern Türkiye, once a stop on the trade route between Europe and the Orient. Ottoman architecture in the old Carsi district, with hundreds of preserved red-roofed Ottoman houses on cobblestone streets.

The town was named after the beautiful purple saffron flower that only grows in this region. The tall tower in the background is where Muslim "call to pray" (Adhan in Arab or Enzan in Turkish Muslim) five time a day. Today it's done from a loudspeaker that people can hear miles away. Those towers are all over Türkiye.