Description: The Dolmabahce Palace was built in the nineteenth century, partly with money borrowed from other world leaders like Queen Victoria in England. The Ottoman Empire was the sick man in Europe, but its leaders didn't want to admit to any reality that tasteless. So what did they do? Push economic reform? No. The royal family decided to build a palace worthy of respect...a palace much more Western than Topkapi...much more lavish than anything else in Turkey.
To get there, we took the tram to Taksim Square, strolled down the hill to the palace, walked by the swan fountain, and bought tickets---a palace/harem combo.
What was the palace tour like? Well, I was really interested here because you have to go through the palace with a guide. While I am a pretty independent traveler, I like to know a good bit about what it is I am viewing. Guides make this easier. However, the Dolmbahce Palace tours are a bit...limited. The groups are much too large. (There's an English speaking group and then a Turkish speaking group.) It's almost impossible to hear the guide unless you're up at the front. There was a group of Spanish speakers walking behind us, and they couldn't understand the guide, so they promptly started talking to each other. This, of course, made me want to scream, "Silencio, por favor!", but I had resigned myself at that point to reading the hand-out given at the front of the palace as we went through the various rooms.
What was the palace itself like? This is an extravagant place. Think marble, columns, and gold. Everywhere. One thing I liked was that everything seemed symmetrical. There was a fireplace in each corner of many of the rooms. We wound our way up the double staircase with crystal balusters, through grand apartments, and into the big highlight... the throne room in the center of the palace that is so grand, so large, so impressive, that the four 1/2 ton chandelier manufactured in England---perhaps the largest ever made---couldn't afford to be one inch smaller. NATO met in this room a couple of years ago. This was certainly an interesting thing to see.
What was the harem tour like? The harem tour was similar to the palace tour as far as the group-size was concerned. Our guide here did seem to be more enthusiastic about his job though...relaying information with a quick smile despite the gleen of sweat on all the faces turned towards him. If you have kids with you, skip this part only because it feels like more of the same. You'll already have a good sense of the palace. However, the harem includes the room in which Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, died. The bedspread looks like a Turkish flag. The clocks in the palace are stopped at the moment of his death.
Bottom line? Definitely worth seeing but hope for a cool day...and small crowds. You'll think it's no wonder the Ottomans ran out of money.
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