Travel Pictures - Frank Dutton

Day 4 7/9/22 - 7/10/22	Istanbul	Frank's Trip
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Opulence and Antiquity were my focus this day... The first three days of my vacation, along with the travel, caught up to me and I took a day off - a very pretty day. The next day I was back to see the sights and... Of all my vacations so far, this was my first "rain day". I was overly optimistic and thought the weather would clear. Instead I suffered a bit getting pretty wet and sometimes cold on a day that had a light drizzle almost all day long; I knew I should have taken an umbrella! Still. it was a good day. How can it not be a good day when one can visit an opulent palace and see the sarcophagus of Alexander The Great!
Dolmabahçe Palace This is Turkey's biggest palace, built between the years 1843 and 1856, with the World's largest palace ballroom. Built in the mid-1800s, it was the administrative center of the late Ottoman Empire and home to the Ottoman sultans. Luxurious, plush and beautiful are just some of the adjectives used to describe the Dolmabahce Palace, which has been compared to the Palace of Versailles. Built in the 19th century using 14 tons of gold leaf, Turkey’s most glamorous palace blends traditional Ottoman architecture with the European styles of Neoclassical, Baroque and Rococo. Home to six sultans from 1856 to 1924, it also is home to the world’s largest Bohemian crystal chandelier, a gift from Queen Victoria.The construction cost five million Ottoman gold lira, or 35 tonnes of gold, the equivalent of about $1.9 billion in today's (2021) values. This sum corresponded to approximately a quarter of the yearly tax revenue.


	I was very disappointed that photography inside is forbidden. There are guards EVERYWHERE! However, in what I judged to be the best room of all, they were well off to one side and I was able to get a few shots of the room - which is HUGE. Everything in the palace is magnificent, but this room outshines all the rest. I was on my own so I was free to move along or spend some time in a given area. I didn't listen to all of the descriptive material on the "audio tour guide" of it would have taken considerably longer than the 2 hours spent going through this massive place!




	Istanbul Archaeology Museums Istanbul Archaeological Museums are a compound of museums which consist three major sections; The Archaeology Museum, The Museum of Ancient Orient (closed when I visited), The Tiled Kiosk Museum.

The archaeology museum building dates to 1891 and is by far the largest and most interesting of the museums. Almost everything I noticed here dated back at least 2,000 to 3,000 years and some to 4,000 years or so. Most of the larger items are on completely open display; very little is behind glass or "out of reach" - though, of course, one is not supposed to touch.







Items from the Bronze Age 1200 BC to 3000 BC


Jewelry and Crowns dating back from 400 BC to 200 AD
Sarcophagi Pictures of a very few of the many, many sarcophagi of the ancient world displayed here

Sarcophagus of the Mourning Women 350 BC	330-300 BC Lebanon	Sarcophagus of Alexander the Great 312-307 BC

Phoenician Sarcophagus 4th Century BC	Phaedra-Hyppolite Sarcophagus 2nd Century AD	Sidamara Sarcophagus (and below)

Sidamara Sarcophagus 3rd Century AD - One of the largest sarcophagi of the ancient world - 10'3" x 12'6" x 6'7"

	The Tiled Kiosk Museum The oldest building (1472) in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum complex is the Tiled Kiosk. It was built by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror (Mehmed II) as a pleasure palace or kiosk and also called Glazed Kiosk (Sırça Kösk).

Hausversicherung, Autoversicherung, Krankenversicherung und CO

Day 4 7/9/22 - 7/10/22

Istanbul

Frank's Trip