Istanbul Topkapi Palace Visit | Turkish Breakfast | Discover Turkey

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The palace complex is located on the Seraglio Point (Sarayburnu), a promontory overlooking the Golden Horn, where the Bosphorus Strait meets the Marmara Sea. The terrain is hilly and the palace itself is located at one of the highest points close to the sea. During Greek and Byzantine times, the acropolis of the ancient Greek city of Byzantion stood here.[citation needed]

After Sultan Mehmed II's conquest of Constantinople (known since 1930 in English as Istanbul) in 1453, the Great Palace of Constantinople was largely in ruins.[10] The Ottoman court was initially set up in the Old Palace (Eski Saray), today the site of Istanbul University in Beyazit Square. Mehmed II ordered that construction of Topkapı Palace begin in 1459.

urkish cuisine (Turkish: Türk mutfağı) is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Eastern European, Armenian and Balkan cuisines.[1][2][3] Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including those of Southeast Europe (Balkans), Central Europe, and Western Europe.[3] The Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm with influences from Levantine cuisines, Egyptian cuisine, Greek cuisine, Balkan cuisine, along with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia (such as yogurt and pastırma), creating a vast array of specialities.

Turkish cuisine varies across the country. The cooking of Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir, and rest of the Asia Minor region inherits many elements of Ottoman court cuisine, with a lighter use of spices, a preference for rice over bulgur, koftes and a wider availability of vegetable stews (türlü), eggplant, stuffed dolmas and fish. The cuisine of the Black Sea Region uses fish extensively, especially the Black Sea anchovy (hamsi) and includes maize dishes. The cuisine of the southeast (e.g. Urfa, Gaziantep, Adıyaman and Adana) is famous for its variety of kebabs, mezes and dough-based desserts such as baklava, şöbiyet, kadayıf, and künefe.

Especially in the western parts of Turkey, where olive trees grow abundantly, olive oil is the major type of oil used for cooking.[4] The cuisines of the Aegean, Marmara and Mediterranean regions are rich in vegetables, herbs, and fish. Central Anatolia has many famous specialties, such as keşkek, mantı (especially from Kayseri) and gözleme. Food names directly cognate with mantı are found also in Chinese (mantou or steamed bun) and Korean cuisine (mandu). In fact, origin of Turkish mantı comes from Chinese mantou.
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