Review: Splendid Palace Hotel Istanbul review

Istanbul has its own archipelago – who knew? The Princes’ Islands, where unpopular royals (and also, incidentally, Leon Trotsky) were once exiled. By the 20th century the archipelago had become a summer retreat for wealthy Istanbulites swapping city swelter for the Ottoman palaces and Belle Epoque mansions set on its green and peaceful shores. Perhaps the most magnificent of them all is the Splendid Palas Hotel on car-free Büyükada (the only traffic are bicycles and horse-drawn carriages). It’s film-set striking, inside and out – a 1908 symphony of Western art nouveau and Eastern embellishment in the colours of the Turkish flag, topped with twin onion domes. Bolts of brilliant red – shutters, screens, stair runners – blaze against the all-white building, like an Anish Kapoor installation.Interiors are a little touched and faded just-so, original detailing intact, from the piped-icing frippery of ceilings to the wooden lobby desk and 1920s pineapple lamp. Three galleried stories of 69 rooms wrap around a tiled courtyard, with its fountain and grand piano, potted palms and cane furniture; and red-and-white striped sun loungers line the pool terrace.