Only on the Asian side, along the ancient coastal road from Uskudar, is the house hidden by walls and trees, a greenness accentuated by wooded hills which until recently were part of the house's parkland. The Orangery, a late 19th century addition with a central fountain and a floor of pebble mosaics. The entire ground floor has walls of tall windows. But modern urbanising mess has taken a heavy toll. Now the streams are sadly polluted.
Bathers swim at their peril.
No longer are there flowers enough to conduct a romance in the language of their names. The meadows where the Sultans' horses once grazed are fenced off in plots, with warnings to tresspassers to keep away. But behind the yali's high walls, the magnificence of the selamlik's shady trees and flowering shrubs remains. The harem's fabled peonies continue to flower their best in June. From the sea the house looks so much of a piece that one might imagine a single man built it within the space of a few years.