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1000places > THE SPICE MARKET - You could find just about everything you wanted - or needed - in the Spice Market. (Turkish Viagra is actually a spiced candy commonly sold at markets in Istanbul which, so they say, has an effect similar to the real Viagra.)
1000places > TOPKAPI PALACE - Unlike many European castles, the Topkapi Palace was gradually enlarged over the centuries with each sultan adding his own flourishes. Today the Palace is a series of courtyards surrounded by buildings of differing architectural styles.
1000places > TOPKAPI PALACE - The word Topkapi means "canon door" – a reference to one of the gates on the old Byzantine wall along the Sea of Marmara. Topkapi Palace stands on the ruins of Byzantium, the ancient Greek settlement at the eastern tip of the Istanbul peninsula. After capturing Constantinople, Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II chose this prime location as the administrative center of his empire. In the 1470s, he built a large complex with offices, military barracks, and a reception hall.
1000places > ISTANBUL - One last monument on the old Hippodrome site is worth mentioning: &nbsp; This fountain seemed a little out of place surrounded by Muslim minarets and Egyptian obelisks. It was a gift from the German government to commemorate Kaiser Wilhelm II's 1901 visit to Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire was waning at that point, but Germany still wanted it as an ally. When World War I broke out, a pact was sealed, and four years later, the Germans had lost a war and the Ottomans had lost an empire.
1000places > ISTANBUL - The Blue Mosque was the pinnacle of Ottoman architecture. It also marked the beginning of the empire's decline. Its construction exhausted the treasury, and the Ottoman Empire entered a period of steady stagnation that eventually led to its collapse. Never again could the empire afford a building of such grandeur.
1000places > ISTANBUL - A wood railing separated us from the apse, the area reserved for worshippers. At prayer times, this area would be packed with worshippers, but during our visit, there was just a solitary workman steadily moving back and forth, vacuuming the carpet. Once there would have been a thick patchwork of handmade rugs covered the floor. Today the rugs have been replaced with machine-made carpeting which required the modern invention of the vacuum cleaner.
1000places > ISTANBUL - While their wives browsed the Spice Market, the husbands would engage in a roadside game of backgammon, often played with uncommon intensity, bordering in some cases on savagery - although one of the combatants couldn't repress a sly smile when I approached with a camera.
1000places > THE SPICE MARKET - And if the Grand Bazaar is not enough, a few miles away is yet another covered market. While the Sultans were building mosques and palaces, their wives and mothers were building their own brand of shopping mall - the Spice Market.
1000places > ISTANBUL - In Istanbul, food and drink seem to be in constant motion. Waiters perpetually carry tea to patrons inside the Grand Bazaar while outside, a carefully-stacked pile of sesame bagels is delivered to a streetside vendor.
THE SPICE MARKET - You could find just about everything you wanted - or needed - in the Spice Market. (Turkish Viagra is actually a spiced candy commonly sold at markets in Istanbul which, so they say, has an effect similar to the real Viagra.)

1000places > THE SPICE MARKET - You could find just about everything you wanted - or needed - in the Spice Market. (Turkish Viagra is actually a spiced candy commonly sold at markets in Istanbul which, so they say, has an effect similar to the real Viagra.)
THE SPICE MARKET - You could find just about everything you wanted - or needed - in the Spice Market. (Turkish Viagra is actually a spiced candy commonly sold at markets in Istanbul which, so they say, has an effect similar to the real Viagra.)

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