Dolmabahçe Palace and Cruising on the Bosporus

by Logan Shellenberger

It’s hard to believe we have come to the end of our time here in Turkey! In some ways, the past three weeks have flown by, and in other ways it feels like we have been here much longer. Our last full day was, appropriately, spent in the city which we started…Istanbul!

We began our final full day by visiting the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul. Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecit I wanted to build a more European style palace for future Ottoman leaders to reside. This was the second palace where Ottoman leaders lived and was used in this capacity until 1923, when the Turkish republic was created. After this, important guests of the republic were housed here, and in 1984 the building was turned into a museum. 

A side gate of the palace

The building took 13 years to construct, from 1843-1856. There are 285 rooms throughout the entire complex! The Ottomans wished to show off their significant wealth through the construction, and they certainly accomplished that feat. The palace is decorated with many paintings, chandeliers, and intricate carpet designs. Gold and marble abound in the palace, and there are many wooden structures to show off even more Ottoman wealth (wood is more expensive and a less common building material than marble in Turkey). Queen Victoria of England, however, donated the most impressive piece of the palace. The chandelier seen below weighs over 4 tons and hangs in one of the main meeting halls of the palace. My initial thoughts were “how did they get that up there” and “I’m really glad I wasn’t responsible for getting it up there.”

The front of the palace, obviously a very popular tourist attraction

After a shopping period in the spice market, we capped off our trip in the most appropriate way--a boat tour on the Bosporus strait! While riding on a boat is always an exciting adventure, the Bosporus strait is no ordinary body of water. Running from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus is the official divide between Europe and Asia. The two bridges which hover over the strait do so much more than allow cars to cross a body of water…they are the gateway between two continents!

A gateway between two continents

This body of water has been a very important part of the region’s history. When the Ottoman Empire was expanding, they built the Rumeli fortress on the European side, which complimented a fortress on the Asian side. The Ottomans now controlled two fortresses on the narrowest part of the Bosporus strait and could now watch for and protect themselves from intruders and control trade on the seas. Military boats have generally not been allowed in the strait since World War I, but it is still heavily traveled by commerce ships, large oil ships in particular. The use of the strait by these giant oil boats has caused controversy; the strait is quite narrow and is very dangerous for these ships to travel through. Today, we saw a protest by hundreds of small boaters who want to prevent these large oil ships from entering the strait.

Many of these small boats were protesting

As we traveled along the waters, many of the seaside attractions caught our attention. We could see construction for Beşitkaş football…er, soccer club’s new stadium, and we passed by the Dolmabahçe palace once more. After this we got a nice view of Galatasaray University. This school was originally started for the sultans’ children to attend and receive an education. It has now developed into one of the premier universities in Istanbul. We continued past the Ortaköy mosque and under the Bosporus bridge. The two of these form one of Istanbul’s most famous images, often replicated on postcards and other souvenir memorabilia.

The famous Galatasaray University

The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge sits further up the strait. This bridge was opened in 1988 and is the second of two bridge options for motor vehicles traveling across European and Asian Istanbul. Generally, Istanbul traffic is horrible, but traffic along the waterfront is especially horrible. We were often stuck near the Bosporus Bridge in the Beştikaş district. Currently, there are plans for a third bridge to help relieve the absurd amounts of vehicle traffic. And even though we sat in this traffic for many hours and will do so once more Monday morning on our way to the airport, it was absolutely worth it every time. Istanbul is an incredible city.