Fiscal Responsibility

Sidebar – We spent a good hour in the morning to reschedule our Malta flight because we were set to fly out Nov 4th AM, which is when the US election results would be coming in. Joe needed to make sure he has access to good WiFi in case he needs to make trade adjustments. So we’ll be flying out to Malta on Nov 6th now.

Now on with today’s journey…

There’s a lesson to be learned today, and that is – “Fiscal Responsibility.”

We got to see the Dolmabahçe Palace from afar while on the Bosphorus cruise 3 days ago, and today we got to check out the inside of the palace.

First, some background: The Ottoman sultans had previously inhabited the Topkapı Palace for 375 years. However, in the early 19th century, Oriental designs were felt to be passé. So to keep with the times, the 31st sultan, Abdülmecid I, ordered the construction of the more European styled Dolmabahçe Palace in 1843. By the time construction was completed in 1856, the Empire had financed and spent 35 tonnes of gold (equivalent to over $1.6 billion in today’s dollars). This ultimately led to financial ruins and contributed to the downfall of the empire 70 years later. One has to wonder, had this palace never been built in the first place, would this part of the world look very different today.

Alas, the palace was built, and for the rest of us commoners, we got a chance to witness the opulence.

Entry fee was 90TL ($12) apiece, but they kindly threw in free audio tour for everyone.

Photos were not allowed inside, but I couldn’t resist taking a couple

Crystal staircase with French Baccarat crystal banisters and chandelier

This is the world’s largest bohemian chandelier weighing in at 4.5 tonnes (a little heavier than an Asian elephant just to give you a little perspective)

In contrast, the sultan’s prayer room is rather humble with an Italian Milano chandelier

Side entrance to the palace looks like the front entrance to a museum

By the time we were done with the tour, it was already raining off and on, and our next stop, lunch, was a ways away. It took us about an hour and a half to walk there as we had to take cover during the intermittent heavy downpours.

Security allowed tourists to duck into their station

Oddly, I enjoyed the rain as it reminded me of monsoon season in Taiwan because the street we were walking on resembled streets of Taipei.

We finally made it to Ben-U Sen for some home cooking.

Beef with eggplants, pilaf, and sarma, which tastes like split pea soup

The owner was extremely friendly and explained that if poor people or students can’t afford to pay the full meal, then they just pay what they can.

He even sent us home with some free sumac

One thing I have been impressed with in the past week while in Turkey is how friendly and generous the Turks are. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as welcomed by the host citizens as I have in Turkey.

Lunch came out to be 30TL! I couldn’t believe it, but he added it all up for us and it was indeed 30TL. We ended up tipping an additional 10TL, but even with that the meal is still super cheap. He wanted to give us Turkish coffee but we declined as we wanted to head to our next stop to pick up chocolate and chicken breast pudding