Museum Day In Istanbul

Bryan and I went to two of Istanbul's most highly-regarded museums today: the Topkapi Palace and the Archeology Museum.  We shared the same reaction to both of them -- for us, these were snooze-fests!

Topkapi Palace:  To be fair, this is much much more than a museum.  It is a palace that has awesome and spacious grounds, a collection of buildings and museums, and a series of courtyards.  The grounds truly are beautiful.  But the museums left us flat.  The famous and bejeweled Topkapi dagger was kinda cool to look at, and the huge Spoonmaker's Diamond (the 5th largest diamond in the world) was sorta neat.  But overall the museums were boring.

One other interesting part of the palace is the Harem.  It is impossible to walk through these rooms without being moved by the unspeakable cruelty practiced by the sultans in connection with the thousands of women enslaved for purposes of the harem.  The same holds with respect to the eunuchs.

The Topkapi Palace is probably the 3rd most famous site in Istanbul, after only the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque.  If you go, don't spend more than an hour.  And prepare to sleep-walk through the museums.

It would be nice to picnic or read a book on the grounds of the Topkapi Palace.

Inside the Harem

 Archeology Museum:  This is really a matter of subjective taste.  If you are enthralled with archeology, you might love this museum.  Many people do.  But if you're not so into archeological finds from Anatolia, the Middle East, and Istanbul itself, this museum too might make you feel like you've taken 5 milligrams -- or 10 -- of ambien.

I will say that the building is neat.  It was designed by the French architect Alexander Vallaury, who also designed the SALT building I mentioned earlier today and the Pera Hotel I highlighted last week.  And, there is a splendid little outdoors cafe right outside the museum that is filled with ruins and statues, and that overlooks the enjoyable Gulhane Park.  The cafe is worth stop, for sure.

Made by my favorite architect with a huge footprint in Istanbul