Selenga stopped at the first gate of Topkapı Palace.
Before her stretched a vast courtyard. Plane trees. Green lawns. And in the distance, another gate.
“Is this the whole palace?” Selenga asked.
“Just the entrance,” the guide replied. “Inside there are four large courtyards and hundreds of rooms.”
“How many people lived here?”
“At its busiest, up to 4,000 people.”
The Kitchens
Their first stop was the palace kitchens.
Giant cauldrons. Taller than a person.
“What were these for?” Selenga wondered.
“Cooking meals. Thousands of people ate here every day — the sultan, officials, soldiers, and servants.”
“Did everyone eat different food?”
“Yes. The sultan had his own meals. The officials had theirs. The soldiers had theirs.”
Selenga stared at the enormous pots.
“Do you really need cauldrons this big just to make soup?”
"When you're feeding 6,000 people a day, you do."
The Treasury
The treasury room was dimly lit, but everything inside sparkled behind glass.
Gold. Silver. Jewels.
And in the center — a large, brilliant yellow diamond that caught the eye.
"The Spoonmaker's Diamond,“ the guide explained. ”86 carats. One of the world's largest diamonds."
"Why is it called the Spoonmaker's Diamond?"
“According to legend, a spoonmaker found it. But nobody knows for certain.”
Selenga moved closer to the glass.
The diamond bent the light in every direction, sparkling differently from each angle.
“How long has it been here?”
“For centuries.”
Selenga gazed at it thoughtfully.
"I'm looking at it now,“ she thought to herself. ”Someone will look at it again, centuries from now."
The Harem Corridors
The Harem section was a maze of narrow hallways.
Mosaics. Tiles. Blues, whites, and turquoise.
“Who lived here?” Selenga asked.
"The sultan's family — his mother, siblings, and their servants."
“Could they go outside?”
“Only sometimes, to the gardens. But mostly they lived in these corridors.”
Selenga walked through the hallway.
It was silent. Her footsteps echoed off the stone.
“I wonder how these people felt living here,” she thought.
The Bosphorus View
The last stop was the most beautiful.
The palace's back terrace overlooked the Bosphorus.
Europe on one side. Asia on the other. Blue water between them.
Ships sailed past.
“The sultans would sit here and watch,” the guide said. “They could see every ship crossing the strait.”
Selenga looked out.
Europe to the left. Asia to the right.
“Between two continents,” Selenga said. “Both European and Asian.”
"That's what the Ottoman Empire was,“ the guide nodded. ”Both East and West."
What We Learned
1. Topkapı Palace served as the home and government center of Ottoman sultans from 1465 to 1853. 2. The palace's four courtyards each had different purposes — government, kitchens, treasury, and private living quarters. 3. The Ottoman Empire ruled across three continents for over 600 years. 4. Today, Topkapı Palace is a museum open to visitors and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 5. Istanbul's location on the Bosphorus gave it both strategic and cultural importance throughout history.
Questions to Discuss with Your Child
1. What would it feel like to walk through 600-year-old palace hallways? 2. If you were a sultan, what would you change about the palace? 3. What do you think the sultans thought about when they looked at the Bosphorus from that terrace?