One of the most famous sites in Istanbul is the Topkapi Palace, home of the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire from 1452 until about 1922. It sits atop a hill overlooking Istanbul, the Bosphorus, and the Golden Horn. I had always thought of it as one building, namely the building that housed the jewels (in particular the jeweled dagger) as depicted in the movie "Topkapi" with Peter Ustinov. However, it is really a complex of many buildings, including the treasury (housing the jewels), the living area of the Sultan and his family (Harem), guest areas, religious areas, etc. It is a very big complex. The gate to the left is the entrance to the palace.

Here are two of the buildings in the complex. The top one is a beautifully decorated building that housed three separate large rooms. In one room the Grand Vizer (the Sultan's COO) met with the various leaders to give instructions from the Sultan. High in the wall on one side there was grill work, and behind that a place for the Sultan to sit and listen to the discussion. He could  access this from his quarters in the Harem.

The building with the domes is a general purpose building, and is next to the treasury which was closed for renovation while we were there. The domes are very common feature in Turkey, not just for their architectural style, but I believe that they also have religious significance. These domes, as are many, are covered with lead sheet. It makes a very interesting and distinct feature.

The grainy picture (I think I took this one) is the view from the opposite side of the Topkapi Palace overlooking Istanbul. You can see the very large mosque with the minarets - not the blue mosque, but another famous one. On this side of the Topkapi there is a beautiful terrace with several small, highly decorated (with tile) buildings celebrating victories by the Ottomans.

There are actually two buildings in this picture. On the left in white is a small, Victorian style frame building. It was used more as a tea room by the Sultan for entertainment. The sitting area overlooked a field (lower right hand side) where they could watch children or others play games. The building behind it with the columns is part of the series of small buildings dedicated to war victories. This is the location of the terrace overlooking Istanbul.

And this is some of the tile work on one of the walls in the terrace. It is rather representative of the tile from the time - lots of blue and lots of mixed patterns. Blue seems to be a favorite color, and the blue tile is the reason the "Blue Mosque" got its name. The tile work is quite lovely, but very busy.