Istanbul, Turkey - July 30

palace

This is the third and last of our three days in Istanbul. Once we start sailing this afternoon, it seems like forever since we’ve felt the sea breeze.

huge trees with these flowers on the palace grounds

Our adventure today is a visit to Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace and Ciragan Palace (now a swanky Hotel.) The 2 of us are obviously out of place in a group of visitors from China. The guide and a museum worker even confirmed with us that we belonged!

The Dolmabahçe Palace, is a relatively new palace compared to some of the palaces we’ve visited - built between 1843 and 1856. This palace is something else. I would probably say I’m not so much into visiting palaces, but really I think I should say I’m not into visiting older palaces which is what we have tended to visit. It is obvious that this is younger than Versailles in France for example which I think is about 200 years older. The one thing that stands out to me are the incredible parquet floors. These are really amazing – tiny piece after tiny piece of wood assembled into different patterns with no nails. We weren’t able to take photos, so you’ll have to use the google to see.

palace fountain

The other thing about the palace that struck me was the use of crystal. Of course there were huge crystal chandeliers, but there were crystal balusters or spindles on the staircases. I have never seen anything like it - breathtaking. If you google this, the pics aren’t nearly as impressive as seeing it in person. And the google doesn’t give you the sense of humidity that the real thing does – however modern this palace is, they still didn’t have AC.

The visit to the palace was at a great pace, no standing around looking at something forever…we didn’t exactly sprint, but didn’t linger either.

palace

Next was tea at the Ciragan Palace, right on the Bosphorus. The setting was gorgeous as were the refreshments – champagne, tea, finger sandwiches, small hot hors d’oeuvres, sweets, Turkish delight of course and chicken breast pudding. Chicken breast pudding or Tavuk göğsü is a Turkish dessert pudding made with chicken and milk. It was a delicacy served to the sultans - today it’s considered a signature dish of Turkey. It wasn’t exactly my cup of tea…it wasn’t too sweet and it was a bit spicy – like cinnamon or clove, but it was a bit gelatinous which I didn’t care for. I’m glad I tried it, but I think it was the first and last time. I still can’t believe it was made with chicken, but the google confirmed it so it must be true!

palace

chicken breast pudding

peaceful fountain