I awoke not wanting to leave the lovely Renaissance Bosphorus (which ironically isn't that close to the Bosphorus - though with great views of it), but I got myself out the door by 10am and at the Dolmabahce Palace by 10:15. Being a Wednesday, the lines weren't too long, but there were a half dozen school groups about which was fun to see but did at times get in the way. The Dolmabahce Palace is perfectly situated on the banks of the Bosphorus, a large complex housing one giant palace building split into three sections in the middle - the Semalik, where the functions of the state were held, the Harem, the personal living quarters of the Sultan, his wife, his mother and various concubines, and a back area converted into an art museum. It was a lot, in that it was great.
There is only one big downside in that they don't allow photographs inside the buildings. There area bevy of security people, who smartly stick most to the msot gorgeous rooms, and there are a lot of those. While super annoying, it probably did save me about 200 further pictures. I managed to sneak in a few, in unsurprisngly some of the lesser rooms, and the views from outside with the ornate carving, the well kept gardens and the Bosphorus to the side, were still quite good to capture.
The Selamik and the Harem both had probably four to five just stunningly beautiful halls - well painted, great furniture, absurd roofs and chandaliers. The only thing close I've been to was Versaille, and it wouldn't shock me if this is just better. The Dolmabahce became the seat of the Ottaman Empire for it's last 60 or so years, and as I would learn from the Topkapi Palace, the Sultan glowed up in a big way. Truly it may have saved the best for last, as in the deep recesses of the Harem sat the Sultan's Great Hall, with a blue toned theme, giant painted porcelain vases, myriad chandaliers, and museum-like paintings on walls and ceilings. It had about five guards just itching to tell people to not take photos.
The Painting Museum at the back serves essentially as an art museum, with about 20 rooms showcasing Ottoman era art - from a hall room converted into portraits of all of the Sultan's, to rooms showcasing art of the court painters, to ones of battles. It was quite good and maybe the single best lit art museum I've ever been to - each room fairly dark except for perfectly aimed lighting shining perfectly on each painting. Truly it was stunning. The whole Dohlmabahce experience was something else. The Sultan of the empire must've gotten jealous of hearing how every other European monarchy had far better digs than him - in this case a great example of Better Late than Never.
For lunch, I made a quick stop to Ayasofya Kebab House - another parallel to my day last Saturday. Truly their Adana Kebab is the best I've had in my life. So juicy without going to the point of soaking bread or leaking. So perfectly spiced. A great sides of herbs, greens, red cabbage and onion all with a great sprinkling of turkish chili flakes. I'm sure anyone I recommend the place to would be surprised that I'm picking something that is in a true tourist trap location - just a five min walk from the Hagia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace, but the place deserves its 4.8 rating on Google.
The Topkapi Palace - where the Sultan lived from basically the founding of Istanbul in the 1400s through to the completion of the Dolmabahce, if anything serves more as museum than a palace. The wonder here is the openness of the grounds, the great tilework and calligraphy in teh rooms, halls, mosques and towers (a stark contrast to the more secular grandeur that was the Dolmabahce), and then the exhibits that doubled as a history museum for life of the Ottomans.
There were some jewels strewn in - one case being literal jewels with a nice collection of the finest jewerly, gold-work, chalices, swords and the like of the Ottamans. They may have waited a while to live in resplendent glory, but they dressed like it far earlier. The place is laid out in an easy to follow format, with three courtyards with areas on the sides that were either living quarters, special exhibits, or mosques. The Harem being a separate ticket off to one side. The last courtyard featured some excellent little "pavillions" (basically small rooms decked out in tile to honor various victorious campaigns), and views of the city.
The Harem was of course far less grand than the Dolmabahce's, but nonetheless quite nice with open courtyards, halls and again a bunch of very intricate tilework. I think I would have been better off seeing this first - end it with a bang with the Dolmabahce, but in a way it is nice to go backwards in time as the day pressed on. The Topkapi also had a really nice audio guide - didn't bash you over the head with information, but gave good support on key atreas. Such as the large collection of Ottaman finery (dress, swords, jewelry, etc.) they picked abuot 10 items to give 45-60 second soundbites on.
From there, I got an uber back to the hotel, quickly packed up my things (the 4pm late checkout matching well with teh 4pm closing time of both palaces), and found myself with a lot of time to spare given the flight to Cape Town is at 2am. I had a dinner at 8 that would be my final stop prior to the airport, so realistically had about 90 minutes to kill (given the driving times). I chose to go to the Craft Beer Lab once again - it being a less than 10 min drive from teh hotel and being a place that truly offered a wide selection of craft beers, even if none are on tap (seems like a common thing to be honest). I had both a nice dry IPA, and a stout, soaking in the last bit of Turkish drinking / socializing culture which I've come to enjoy quite a bit.
Dinner at Alaf was a unexpected joy. First off, it got me to a new part of the city - Kurucesme, well up the Bosphorus but on the coast. Bright lights, cool bars, a lot of fancier clubs. Definitely seems like a pricier end of the city, but one that housed some great views and great places, Alaf being one of them. A more earthy restaurant looking to showcase old cooking styles from across the entire country. I went with a tasting menu option which on its face looked like a 5-course meal, until I realized what I thought were a bevy of ingredients in one dish often was 2-3 dishes separate.
The food was incredible - I truly think better than either Mikla or Neolokal (not to say either of those was not good or not worth it...). The place really was more inventive and playful say than the other two. I don't know if the tastes were as delicate or refined, but just as gastronomy forward. Couple of my favorite dishes was a kokorec (normally an offal wrapped in beef or lamb skin) turned into a mini burger, or a camel meat nata/pie, or a dessert served as a large chili but that really was chocolate and chili ganache coverd in a triple layered and frozen phyllo. Just incredible stuff. It was a great way to end my time in Istanbul and Turkey.
I'll cover the airport and my flight to Cape Town along with the whole entirety of the rest of that day in Cape Town separately.
