Dolmabahçe Palace – Yıldız Palace – Beylerbeyi Palace and Çamlıca Mosque Tour

• We meet at a point close to Kabataş Tram stop. First we visit Dolmabahçe Palace.
• After completing our visit at Dolmabahçe Palace, our private vehicle takes us to Yıldız Palace. After our tour in Yıldız Palace, we are on our way to Çamlıca Mosque with our private vehicle.
• After visiting the Camlica Mosque, we finally visit the Beylerbeyi Palace and return to the European side with our private vehicle.

Dolmabahçe Palace, located in the most beautiful part of the Bosphorus, fascinates visitors with its magnificent European baroque architecture and oriental texture. Dolmabahçe Palace, one of the last signatures of the Ottoman Empire on Istanbul, magnificently reveals the last periods of the Ottoman Empire and the foundation of modern Turkey. Adding nobility to the city with its western architecture, Dolmabahçe Palace is one of the leading historical places to visit in Istanbul, as it hosted both the last six Ottoman sultans and the last moments of Great Leader Atatürk.

Yıldız Palace is located on Yıldız Hill of Beşiktaş district as the last example of Turkish Ottoman palace architecture. This region was used as a hunting ground by the sultans as the Hazine-I Hassa (Private Treasury) land from the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566). Before Yıldız Palace, Ahmet I had a mansion built here. Then III. Selim’s mother had Yıldız Pavilion built for Mihrişah Sultan and a fountain for her father. Sultan Abdulaziz, who usually resides in Yıldız Mansion during the summer months, had the Great Mabeyn Mansion built, then added the Malta and Tent (Çadır in Turkish)  Mansions to the outer garden, and the Fence (Çit in Turkish) Pavilion to the main part. Since Sultan Abdülhamit II did not find the Dolmabahçe Palace safe enough, he preferred to live here and the main buildings were built during his reign (1876-1909), and it was named Yıldız Palace-ı Hümayunu. Along with the private life of the sultan, there are buildings allocated to officials, workshops such as repair shops, carpentry shops, and cultural and artistic structures such as theatre, museum and library are also available in the palace.

Beylerbeyi Palace is located in the most beautiful spot of the Bosphorus, right next to Üsküdar, in the Beylerbeyi district. The palace is one of the most magnificent palaces of Istanbul with its European baroque style architecture and oriental texture. The architecture and interior bear the traces of the Ottoman and the West. The palace has beautiful gardens. The palace, which was used as the summer residence of the sultans during the Ottoman period, was built between 1863 and 1865. The palace was mostly used to host foreign heads of state. In addition, after his deposal, Sultan Abdulhamid II was kept in this palace until his death in 1918.

Camlica Mosque is Turkey’s largest mosque. The mosque, which has a capacity of 63,000 people, has a museum, art gallery, library, conference hall and an underground car park for 3,500 vehicles.

The architects of the Camlica Mosque are Bahar Mızrak and Hayriye Gül Totu. With its 72-meter-high main and 34-meter diameter dome, Büyük Çamlıca Mosque draws attention to the 72 nationalities living in Istanbul and Istanbul’s license plate number for vehicles. The length of the four mosque minarets is 107.1 meters; this is a measurement referring to the Battle of Manzikert in the year 1071 by the Seljuk and Byzantine Empires. The 6 minarets in the mosque represent the conditions of faith in Islam. On the inner surface of the dome, 16 names of Allah are written, and they are dedicated to 16 Turkish states as referring to the last two verses of Surat al-Hashr.