訪問日時：2010年5月6日午前10時頃
Because I arrived in Istanbul yesterday in the evening, I could only visit the Blue Mosque. Today we are going to visit Istanbul in earnest. The first one is “Topkapi Palace”.
We were told that “Harem” had limited admission, so we decided to go here first thing in the morning for sure. It’s located in the area where Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia are, so it’s close to the hotel. In fact, it was so close that I was bored in the morning. When I was walking around randomly, I was talked to by several Turkish people who could speak Japanese surprisingly.
We went through the main gate of this court, the Imperial Gate, and went inside. There was a ticket office on the right side of the entrance. It was not so crowded as I expected. Well, it was the first thing in the morning.
First of all, we will go to the most important place to see, the Harem. The Harem is an extra charge. There is a ticket office at the entrance, so you have to buy a ticket separately. I think it was quite expensive if you combine this with the entrance fee of the palace itself. (Sorry, I forgot how much it was already ^^)
It wasn’t so crowded, but still, Istanbul is a world-class historical city, so there are always tourists. But I’ve been to many places where there are no people at all in this trip, so I guess I have a bias to think it’s popular even if there are a few people (laughs).
To be honest, I don’t care about the interior of Harem or Topkapi Palace. The successive sultans of the Turkish Empire, which once ruled the Orient widely and for a long time, lived here, and I’m already full just imagining that. If you are a world history selector or a history buff, there is nothing more to say.
It was the same when I saw the Alhambra, but perhaps it was because I hadn’t yet become accustomed to Islamic culture, or perhaps it was because I had seen so many buildings of Christian culture in Europe, but my overall impression was that they were rather plain and not very ornate. Even so, when I looked at the photos again, I was reminded of the elaborate design of the building.
After a quick tour of the Harem, we went on to see the other facilities of the palace.
Then to the terrace of the palace.
You can see the Bosforus Strait from there. Did the successive sultans also look at this strait like this?
今日もいい天気。観光はまだまだ続きます。（No.2へ続く）
