My love and me.
Topkapi Palace is huge.
It is stunningly beautiful and it is also hot as heck during the summer months.
This may or may not be obvious, from the shorts and tank tops we are wearing, but just to make sure of it, it was boiling.
That is why so many of the Turks go on vacation and the city is more empty than usual.
It still has around 14,000,000 people in it, which is a lot, but it seemed quite easy to navigate and take mass transit without being crowded and knocked over all the time.
When we hit Athens, it was similar but when we hit the Islands, they were packed because of everyone being on vacation and getting out of the cities.
It was an interesting experience since being “packed” in Greece meant about 1/1,000,000th of what we’ve become used to as being “packed” here in Beijing and China.
We could move easily, not have to deal with much traffic, and people seemed much more content to take their time and be courteous to each other. It is the island lifestyle, I guess.
As for the Palace, there are a number of different buildings and exhibitions.
The Crown Jewels, for example, you are allowed to visit but you are not allowed to take pictures.
We probably saw more gold, and jewels, there compared to anywhere else we’ve been.
Maybe, in my case, the Vatican would have an equal amount but I don’t quite remember.
Either way, it was stunning and breathtaking.
We also had a light snack overlooking the Bosphorus and enjoyed that immensely.