Special thanks to Ozgur Balsoy for use of the aerial photograph of Topkapi Palace (and the Ministry of Tourism)!!!

For more beautiful photographs of Istanbul and Turkey see the link at the bottom of page.

The sprawling grounds of the Topkapi Palace made touring Istanbul even more impressive.

Our guide explained to us that each Sultan who came into power after the death of his father tried to expand and build on what was already there (as if trying to outdo his father).

By-the-way, do you remember the movie with George Segal called Topkapi about the jewel heist?

Much of the present day Grand Bazaar is covered to protect the merchants and the customers from harsh elements.

But to imagine the Bazaar as it was many, many years ago........ just try to picture it all as an open air bazaar.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention.......

No, I didn't see any "flying carpets".................

And I couldn't find any "Turkish Taffy" anywhere!!!!

But I did fairly well as far as shopping goes! I did manage to spend all my Turkish Lira, and got some great bargains on silk and gold and leather goods.

And I bought a real (miniature sized) oil burning lamp.

No, when you rub it a genie doesn't come out of it.

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Ozgur Balsoy