Cannon Gate Palace / Old Palace

(Local Name: Istanbul - Topkapi Sarayi / Eski Saray) From the Soguk Çesme Gate in Istanbul we bear half right to the Topkapi Sarayi (Cannon Gate Palace) or Eski Saray (Old Palace), the old palace-city of the Sultans, built on the Seraglio Point hill, one of the seven hills of New Rome, on the site of the acropolis and the earliest settlement of Byzantion. This great complex of buildings set in gardens (now open to the public) bounded by battlemented walls and towers, consists of a number of buildings outside the main precincts (the Archeological Museum, the Mint, the church of Hagia Eirene, etc.) and, beyond these, the Inner Seraglio. Mehmet II built a summer palace here in 1468, and this was enlarged by Süleiman the Magnificent into the Sultan's principal residence, occupied by successive Sultan's until Abdul Mecid moved to the Dolmabahçe Palace in 1855. The Topkapi Sarayi is surrounded by 5km of walls. The series of open courtyards are covered with 50,00 white roses in 1593. The second court enclosed flowerbeds and roses with plane trees and cypresses give shade. In the third court is a collection of fine trees such as magnolias, box, Atlas cedar and Lagerstroemia indica, during summer there are scented flowers. The fourth courtyard contains pavilions that are surrounded with flowers, trees and shrubs.