Visiting Topkapi Palace in Turkey

Visiting these older castles in European countries makes me imagine what life was like back then. Topkapi Palace is one of those places where time stands still.

Construction started in 1459 and took hundreds of years to eventually finish. Think of that, where do we do that today? It served as the administrative offices/palace of the Ottoman rulers.

Fast forward to recent times, and the Turkish government made it a museum in 1924. The Palace has hundreds of rooms and chambers but not all is accessible to the public for touring.

Located in Istanbul, the size of Topkapi is overwhelming. Imagine a castle of 6 to 7 million square feet including the courtyards and gardens.

Front gate for sales, does not tell the stories of the history of this historic building.

The Palace building style, techniques seem to vary in some style over the hundreds of years in constant building and renovation.

The Palace consists of four larger courtyards that support of the various buildings. The trees have look of history themselves as they add a sense of nature and calmness. Back then, each courtyard told a different story of who was the ruler and what importance these buildings played.

The miniature replica gave us a view of what it was like. Imagine a city for the ruling government and all others were to be kept out.

It sits now as a pathway to history to be explored. What would people say of these rulers today? Imagine what you had to do with constant battle and countries invading. These European castles are more than just a monument, they were a matter of survival for the rulers.

It reminds me of other historic palaces or castles, like Prague Castle in the Czech Republic which took over 300 years to build. This is how empires remained in power. They tell a story of conquest and constant battle for land and rule. That was our history 300-400 years ago up until WWII where land and occupation changed many times.

Amazing to to visit. If you are in Turkey, it's a must visit. It's historic and study before you go as it makes it more interesting to understand what life was like :-)