Dolmabahce Palace

After the overpriced and under-delivered experience of Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace, I remembered that I don’t necessarily HAVE to visit all the special historical tourist sites in any given city. This came up again, immediately, at the Dolmabahce Palace.

To be fair to the Turkish board of Tourism, I’m sure the palace is lovely inside. I’m sure there are all sorts of historic things, paintings of historic people, and maybe even a few lovely historical busts for my admiration.

You know what else there is, though?

A cafe. Right on the grounds of the palace!

Right on the shores of the Bosphorus, with a cool breeze to take the heat out of a piping hot Turkish coffee. This is how Ottoman Sultans must have breakfasted, right?

So, yea, maybe skipping the Big Sites like the palaces and squares and historic whatnots isn’t the tourist thing. But I’d much rather spend that 30TL on a great meal overlooking the water than on forcing myself through another hour-long guided tour!

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Still want to visit? Check out GetYourGuide or just show up at Kabatas tram stop and buy a ticket to walk around with the in-house guides.