Me in the garden of Dolmabahçe Palace

This is an answer to the question "where to go in Istanbul..." 

I've lived in Istanbul more than 20 years; seen many places, been to many palaces, churches, mosques, parks, and many further, but the only favourite of mine has always been the Dolmabahçe Palace (Dolmabahçe Sarayı). - (If you want to get into the palace and see it, you will have to wait for probably an hour or more in the queue, but I assure you, it's worth it!)

Its unique architecture, and its location make it one of the best places in Istanbul and make it worth seeing for the tourists. I have been to the palace more than 4 or 5 times; accompanying my tourist friends most of the time, and I never get bored of it. - It's main importance comes from being our leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's home for his last years, although it had been used by a couple of other leaders the Ottoman Empire had.

Dolmabahçe Palace

It is right on the coast line of Bosphorus (on the European side of Istanbul), between Kabataş and Beşiktaş, located just by the sea. This part of the city is one of the most expensive places to live in, the apartment rents are higher - mostly because it is right where the centre is and people living in those apartments can see the Bosphorus from their houses. So where the Dolmabahçe Palace stands is like a gold...

the entrance of the palace

The Palace was first built by Sultan Abdülmecid, who was the only ruler of that time in the Ottoman Empire. The sultan preferred it to be done in the baroque style as a result of westernisation experienced in the city at that times. He liked the western music and loved to live in the modern western way during his life. After long years of the changing rulers in the Ottoman Empire, almost all of them had spent a little time in this palace, though none of them had been able to live longer than 1 year as a result of the complicated events they had to face. Right after the Ottoman Empire became the Turkish Republic, the last sultan had to leave the palace (and the country as well) with all his belongings, including his family.

Me right before leaving the palace, in the garden

The next three years, the palace had been used only for the visitors from abroad; the kings, queens, imperials and many more. After Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's election as the President, he started living in this palace during the days he spent in Istanbul, and that was where he died on the 10th of November in 1938. - There you can see the room where he died with a bed covered with the Turkish flag.

As some of the readers may know, in the history, the palaces in the Ottoman Empire had a few parts like Selamlık and Haremlik. The apartments of Harem were belonging to the sultan's wives; only the sultan himself was able to get into these apartments and no other men (Except the man who is desexualised for the job of managing the Harem). Haremlik is a bit more plain, has a very simple decoration inside - this is because not everyone gets into this part of the palace - especially not the outsiders - so it was not necessary to decorate the interior part with a splendid design. But the other parts of the palace, particularly the main parts where the visitors are accepted are way too splendid - exactly the way how an Ottoman palace would be. But I should warn you it's strictly forbidden to take photos in the palace - never try that! The palace officials will hate you!

An example of the symmetrical room design

The palace has a mixture of the old architectural styles; the French Baroque, the German Rococo, the English Neo-Classicism, and the Italian Renaissance... It has extremely high ceilings and 3 floors, and its best-known feature is its symmetrical perfectness. Everything in the palace is symmetrical! Two sofas in a room, facing each other, exactly the same two tables in a hall room, two lamps on the ceiling... Every little thing has a pair; a great detail about the design!

The crystal chandelier

Another important thing you need to know about the palace is its crystal chandelier that was done in England by the English. The chandelier is 4,5 tones and is the most popular thing in the palace. This chandelier is hanged in the ballroom which is know as the biggest ballroom in THE WORLD - it's 36 metres at height, and this crystal chandelier is right in the middle of its ceiling.

None of the furnitures or the accessories in the palace have been replaced since the first day the palace was built, so everything you will see is going to be an original piece. The decorations on the walls are done by using genuine gold and the pictures painted are all done by countless European artists of that time. Most of the rooms are named according to their colours; such as the Blue Room, the Red Room, the Yellow Room to indicate which colour is the main colour in these rooms. - The Blue Room(s), been my favourite!

The Turkish carpets, mostly done by silk and wool are all around, and accessories from Europe and Far East are worth seeing! Not to mention that you will see a few Turkish Hamams as well, since that was the only bathroom they had in the Ottoman Empire in very old times... But consider them as the small hamams, not like the public ones which have bigger areas.

The material used for its construction (for the façade let's say), is a kind of blue marble coming from the Islands of Marmara. The palace, as you may guess, costed a lot of money in that times - 5 million golds. All the foreign architectures, painters, materials used for the decoration and more...

The Clock Tower

More than that, the palace has a few other buildings as well. One of them is the famous Clock Tower, where you can enter only if you buy another additional ticket. The gardens of the palace is also worth seeing - especially right after you have a touristic tour service by the palace management (Definitely do that, they will tell you a lot more than this!) When you are about to leave the palace, you are led to the gardens anyway, so spend some time in the gardens, feel the blue sea of Marmara and remember that in the history, there have been many many events and some of them had happened in this gardens - lovers meeting secretly between the trees, sultans' wives and favourite girls taking walks thinking how to manage their sultans, secret love affairs that would cause the lovers to die if ever known, and many more...

To sum up, Dolmabahçe Palace is one of the must-sees of the big city Istanbul. The others that I would recommend you to visit are Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnıcı) and the Topkapı Palace (Topkapı Sarayı), and I will surely write about them, too.

- My friend Koray Süren knows a lot more than I do about the palace, and he's been guiding the foreign tourists for years, so if you ever come to Istanbul and need someone to help you see the city (with all the historical details including), he'd be more than happy to assist you. Too see his website, please click here.