Today we got up at a good time, all excited to see the Archeology Museum and the Topkapi Palace. We did some reading on both places and they sounded like they'd be GREATLY interesting. Rob and I took the tram there and headed first to the Archeology museum, where we were very surprised to see how huge the complex was.
The museum complex is comprised of three buildings: the Archaeological Museum, the Museum of the Ancient Orient, and the Museum of Islamic Art. In the courtyard outside of the museums there are many old statues, floral sculptures, and artifacts lining the outer walls, creating a sort of garden to whet the appetite and welcome you into the museums. At the entrance to the Museum of the Ancient Orient, we stopped to appreciate two large, portal lion statues from 8th century B.C. That's old!Inside, we were bombarded with so much cool stuff! There were ancient Egyptian mummies and sarcophagi and little idol statues of the Egyptian gods, and ancient Babylonian statues and tomb stones and wall decorations and gateways... and almost the entire Ancient Orient museum is open, which means most of the large pieces aren't behind glass. I have found that pieces are much more interesting when you can have an unobstructed, 360 degree view of them. It really gives a greater impact.
There were two things that really stood out to us in this building. The first was the ceramic tile mosaics of aurochs and dragons and lions. At first I thought they were modern reproductions in the style of some ancient art of some kind. However, we soon discovered that these images came from the Ishtar Gate, the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon. It was constructed in about 575 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II and was dedicated to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. Below is a rendering of what the gate used to look like. 
The gate was constructed of blue glazed tiles with alternating rows of bas-relief sirrush (dragons) and aurochs. Through the gate ran the Processional Way, which was lined with walls covered in lions on glazed bricks (about 120 of them).Originally the gate, being part of the Walls of Babylon, was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the world until, in the 6th century AD, it was replaced by the Lighthouse of Alexandria. The Archeological Museum only got some of the tiles from the gate, and they are in surprisingly good condition. There are more of these lions and dragons all over the world in different museums, so who knows, maybe some day we'll see them again in a new, exciting city!
The second thing that we found really cool was a collection of old clay tablets with various writings on them, including the Book of Proverbs, a tablet containing the Oldest Love Poem, and The Code of Hammurabi, the first written code of laws in human history. The most interesting piece, however, was The Kadesh Peace Treaty, written in 1258 BC. It's a treaty that was signed between Ramesses II of Egypt and Hattusili III of the Hittite Empire. It is the oldest known peace treaty in the world, and a giant poster of this tablets containing the treaty is on the wall of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The size is what astounds me most, though. It's small scale makes it seem so insignificant; so easily overlooked. Rob and I saw many other peace treaties in other museums (not nearly as old) and they were written on huge slabs of stone that were placed in city squares for all to see. This small piece of clay could fit in my hand... I don't know why I was struck so much by the size; maybe it was just surprising.
So on we went to the main building, the Archaeological Museum. This one was even cooler than the first one! As we walked inside, we were greeted by this huge stone sculpture of a nymph-like god... he made me smile! Near the front on the museum was a room dedicated to Osman Hamdi Bey (the same guy who painted 'The Tortoise Trainer', the painting from the gallery we visited that had sold for 3.5 million dollars). Apparently, Bey wasn't just a painter. He was also an accomplished archeologist and is considered as the pioneer of the museum curator's profession in Turkey. He was the founder of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums and of the İstanbul Academy of Fine Arts, known today as the Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts. That's quite the resume! We read about his history and what he did to Turkish cultural preservation. In 1884, he oversaw the passing of a Regulation prohibiting historical artifacts from being smuggled abroad, which was a giant step in building a legal framework of preservation of the antiquities. Apparently, representatives or middlemen of 19th century European Powers often smuggled artifacts with historical value from the Ottoman Empire (which then comprised the geographies of ancient Greek and Mesopotamian civilizations, among others), to enrich museums in European capitals. I never really thought about this issue before... but I can see how frustrating it would be for country to helplessly watch as their history and antiquities were being paraded out of their borders and into foreign museums... 
In the next room, we found some incredible pieces that Bay's archeological teams had unearthed during their expeditions. There was a collection of huge, elaborate sarcophagi. Most interesting was the ornate Alexander Sarcophagus, once believed to be prepared for Alexander the Great and made in 4th century BC. It's a stone sarcophagus adorned with bass-relief carvings of Alexander the Great and it's among the most famous pieces of ancient art in the museum. The figures that surround the outside of the sarcophagus used to be brightly coloured in yellows and reds and oranges and blues... today you can only see small traces and tinges of colour. It must have been absolutely splendid when it was originally completed, but even now it's probably one of the coolest examples of bass-relief carving that I've ever seen! Below is another one of the sarcophagi that Bey's teams discovered. I spent a lot of time in this room as this type of craving absolutely blows my mind.
The rest of the museum was really incredible. We tried to rush through as much as we could, since we had been there for hours and we still wanted to get some time at the Palace before it closed. There were rooms filled with parts of statues from the Temple of Zeus found at Bergama, busts of Alexander the Great and Zeus, fragments from the temple of Athena at Assos, 800,000 Ottoman coins, seals, decorations and medals... and the list goes on. Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to see everything, and I could have spent at least 3 more hours there, but we had to move if we wanted to get into the Topkapi Palace. We quickly ran through the Museum of Islamic Art, which mostly consisted of pottery and ceramics... On to the Topkapi Palace! 
Upon our arrival at the Palace, however, we realised that we had been misinformed by our guide book on closing time. The book had stated that the Palace would be open until 7:00PM, but it was closing at 5... and it was about 4:00 when we arrived at the ticket booth lines... So, slightly disappointed, we decided we would come back tomorrow and give the Palace the attention it deserved. Instead of going directly home, however, we walked along the waterfront, through the bustling fish markets and the men roasting corn on the cob and chestnuts, and the street vendors selling anything they could get their hands on... and the hundreds of fishermen hanging over the bridge with their rods lining the entire railing of the bridge. It's unbelievable that these guys actually catch anything in the Bosphorus, especially considering how much water traffic is constantly traveling through the area. Apparently the Bosphorus is one of the busiest rivers in the world...
...But I did get to finally try some of the roasted chestnuts that had been tempting me from every street corner since arriving in Turkey. They weren't quite what I expected, but I did quite like them! Thanks for the snack, Rob! It lifted my spirits after the Palace let-down. Rob watched the ships passing in the river while I munched on chestnuts, and we decided it would be great fun to take a Bosphorus tour! We bought tickets for a ferry ride up and down the river and hopped on the boat. It was getting later, so even though it was really cold, it was incredibly interesting and beautiful touring along as the sun slid downward in the sky toward the sprawling Istanbul skyline. We drank hot apple tea to keep us warm (I have to find out where to buy the powdered mix that they use.... so tasty!) and snuggled close, watching the city pass us by. It was really nice. 
As we came back in to dock, we noticed this tower on the skyline (see picture above) that we had seen a few times in our travels, but didn't quite know what it was. On our walk home, after our wonderful boat cruise, we happened to take the scenic route (read: got lost), and stumbled upon the tower.
It's called the Galata Tower, a medieval stone tower in the Galata district of Istanbul, Turkey, just to the north of the Golden Horn. One of the city's most striking landmarks, it is a high, cone-capped cylinder built in 1348 that dominates the skyline and affords a panoramic vista of Old Istanbul and the surrounding area. Apparently there's a night club and a cafe on the top, but the line was so long when we arrived there that we just took a few night pictures and went on our way.
Overall, it was a wonderful day, and I look forward to going to the Palace tomorrow!
The Code of Hammurabi- very interesting!
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