Downton Blabby: Topkapi Palace and TILE!

I have written this post twice -- the last time while I was in labor -- and Blogger ATE the post with all 60+ photos both times! Here's hoping this works because these are some of my favorite photos from Istanbul.

After a leisurely breakfast at our hotel (Stayed up way too late thanks to Turkish coffee) we made the short walk to Topkapi Palace. It took a while to get through the gates, and to get an audio guide you need cash. Once in the palace, we were overwhelmed with the beauty!

Soldier playing with a stray dog

Istanbul kitteh

Entrance to Topkapi Palace

Beautiful typography

So ornate

Even the ceilings were impressive

We had lunch within the palace with a gorgeous view!

View of the Bosphorus Strait from our lunch table

Enjoying lunch

My traveling partner

spices for lunch

our lunch mate

the waiter--so dapper!

walkway in the harem

Courtyard of the harem

Some of the things in the palace are more than 1,000 years old. We even saw one of the world's largest diamonds -- the Spoonmaker's Diamond.

More than anything, I loved the tile in Istanbul, and especially Topkapi Palace. Here is a collage of my favorite patterns.

Evening view from our hotel of the Bosphorus

We spent more than 4 hours in Topkapi Palace. After resting up, we went to a wonderful restaurant near our hotel in Sultanahmet Square called Palatium. We had good food--the best of our trip--and wine, and the atmosphere was really special. You can sit at tables, or on poufs on the rug smoking hookah. We also had baklava and ice cream--AMAZING.

Our waiter showed us what lay beneath the restaurant. There was plexiglass to show ruins below. We went down there and saw remnants of tunnels and rooms built by Romans 1,700 years ago! These rooms linked to the Sultan's quarters in Topkapi Palace.

love the pattern

We admired Turkish chandeliers the previous day at the bazaars. I figured I would just buy one when I got home, but the prices were much much higher for smaller chandeliers. We stopped in a shop and found the perfect chandelier, but didn't know how we'd get it home. The shop owners quickly offered to bubble wrap our purchase and they did a great job--served us tea while they did it too! We lovelovelove this chandelier. We need to fix the electrical connections before we can put it in our home, but we can't wait to put it up!