![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/palaces_01.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe day started early, not only because of having to walk to the terminal and get through security, but also so that we could get to our first palace before the rush started. Of the two palaces we visited, Dolmabah\u00e7e Palace is clearly the biggest in size, but also the one that attracts the largest number of visitors. Being early meant we were amongst the first groups of the day to be admitted, which is just as well because the queues to get in, when we left were quite horrendous.<\/p>\n
Security is taken seriously, so much so that everyone has to be scanned into the premises not once, but twice. On the first scan, a security officer confiscated the little tripod from my camera bag and handed me a hand-written sticker in order to reclaim it on my way out.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, the palace was very ornate, and extremely large. Despite being early, we were still viewing it from a conga line of visitors, weaving our way through the rooms and being chivvied along by more security personnel who encouraged constant movement with very stern and stony faces. Photos were only allowed to be taken by mobile; no actual ‘cameras’ were allowed to be used. Video was also not allowed, although I did manage to capture a few bits and bobs when the guards weren’t looking.<\/p>\n After the palace, we walked back to the entrance gate via the gardens, where I was able to retrieve my tripod from the security building. As I handed over the hand-written sticker with the number ‘9’ on it, he picked my tripod off from shelves that were absolutely heaving with tripods.<\/p>\n Our second palace wasn’t quite so grand, or as busy (in fact, it seemed at times like the group had the entire place to ourselves). There was still a lot of walking involved, however, and even after the official tour was finished, and we were given some free time, a walk through what was once the harem (now a furniture museum) seemed to take forever, followed by a long walk through the gardens back to the bus.<\/p>\n The final stop on our tour was to a mosque right alongside one of the large bridges that crosses the Bosphorus.<\/p>\n The guide was very good, and told us a lot about the whole business of what goes on in the mosque, when and why, and all spoken in low tones through an earpiece that we’d all been issued with. After that, we spent our free time wandering through an adjacent market and watching the boats before heading towards the appropriate meeting point, from where we were taken back to the port.<\/p>\n The tour lasted six hours, which meant we missed lunch, and were slightly surprised at not having been offered a packed lunch before leaving the ship. Instead, we went to afternoon tea in the Grill and stuffed ourselves with sandwiches and cakes, to tide us over until dinner time.<\/p>\n Once again, Istanbul had entertained and wowed us. That’s three times we’ve visited, and it hasn’t failed to impress yet. Tomorrow, we will be visiting Cannakale, and the ancient city of Troy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For Day Two of our visit to Istanbul, we’d booked ourselves onto a tour of the city’s palaces, situated alongside the Bosphorus. After all the walking we did yesterday, we figured today might be slightly less energetic; it turns out we still managed to walk a long way. The day started early, not only because of having to walk to...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":""},"categories":[28,15,38,37],"tags":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Peter Woolley","author_link":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/author\/painter01\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/palaces_02-300x169.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Cruises<\/a>","Mediterranean<\/a>","Saga<\/a>","Spirit of Discovery<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Cruises<\/span>","Mediterranean<\/span>","Saga<\/span>","Spirit of Discovery<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 weeks ago","modified":"Updated 1 week ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 6th October 2026","modified":"Updated on 14th October 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 6th October 2026 10:52 pm","modified":"Updated on 14th October 2026 4:34 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4322,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4313\/revisions\/4322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n