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Beyond Taksim, along the European shore of the Bosphorus, the most obvious place to head for is BESIKTAS (best reached from Eminonu by bus #43k, #43r or #51e; or from Taksim by bus #30b and frequent dolmuses ), where the huge, sumptuous Dolmabahce Palace (Tues, Wed & Fri-Sun 9am-4pm; guided tours only: $5 short tour, $8 complete tour) was built in the mid-nineteenth century to replace Topkapi as the imperial residence of the Ottoman sultans. To the contemporary eye it's not so much magnificent as a grossly excessive display of ostentatious wealth, suggesting that good taste suffered along with the fortunes of the Ottoman Empire. But it retains an Oriental feel in the organization of its rooms, divided into selamlik and harem by the enormous throne room - where the ceremonies were watched by women of the harem through grilles. The four-tonne chandelier in the throne room, one of the largest ever made, was a present from Queen Victoria. Back towards the ferry landing, the Maritime Museum (Wed-Sun 9am-noon & 1-5pm; $1) is one of the city's most interesting, with a collection divided between two buildings, one facing the water housing seagoing craft, and the other, on Cezayir Caddesi, devoted to the maritime history of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic. A quarter-hour walk north along the coast road is the Yildiz Parki (daily 9am-11pm), a vast wooded area dotted with lakes and gardens which formed the grounds of Yaldiz Palace, to the north. The most important surviving building is Yildiz Sale (Tues, Wed & Fri-Sun 9.30am-5pm; $3) which resembles a Swiss chalet and was built for the first visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1889. Yildiz Palace itself (Tues-Sun 9.30am-4.30pm; $3) is entered from Besiktas' other main road, Barbaros Bulvar, and consists of a collection of structures in old Ottoman and Art Nouveau styles - a total contrast to Dolmabahce. Most of the pavillions date from the reign of Abdul Aziz, but it was Abdul Hamid - a reforming sultan whose downfall was brought about by his intense paranoia - who transformed Yildiz into a small city and power base.
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