Turkey Guide
İstanbul
İstiklâl Caddesi
Address: Beyoğlu
The exit from the upper Tünel station in Beyoğlu is fronted by a small square from which İstiklâl Caddesi (known as the "Grand Rue de Pera" prior to Independence) heads 1.5km north towards Taksim Square. Make a brief detour a few metres down to the right, along Galipdede Caddesi, and an unassuming doorway on the left leads to the courtyard of the Galata MevlevÎhane, also referred to as the Divan Literature Museum (daily except Tues 9am–4pm; 2YTL). A former monastery and ceremonial hall of the whirling dervishes, the building now serves as a museum to the MevlevÎ sect.
Further along İstiklâl Caddesi, on your right, is the Botter House, a fine Art Nouveau apartment building with a carved stone facade and wrought-iron balcony. Commissioned in 1901 as a showroom, workshop and family house by Dutchman Jan Botter, tailor and couturier to Sultan Abdülhamid II, it is one of a number of structures around İstanbul designed by the Italian architect Raimondo D'Aronco. Further up on the right is the newly restored Palais de Hollande at İstiklâl Caddesi 393. Built in 1858 on the site of the home of Cornelis Haga, the first Dutch diplomat in Constantinople during the fifteenth century, it now houses the Consulate to the Netherlands.
Many other buildings lining İstiklâl Caddesi are also typically European, like the Mudo shop at no. 401, with a beautifully preserved Art Nouveau interior, and selling very expensive toys and retro or kitsch ornaments. The oldest church in the area is St Mary Draperis at no. 429, which dates from 1789, although the Franciscans built their first church on the site in the early fifteenth century. Better known is the Franciscan church of St Antoine at no. 325, a fine example of red-brick neo-Gothic architecture. Originally founded in 1725 it was demolished to make way for a tramway at the beginning of the century and rebuilt in 1913.
Further along İstiklâl Caddesi you can detour down Nuru Ziya Sok to the imposing French Palace, with its large central courtyard and formally laid-out gardens, the residence of ambassadors and consuls from 1831 until the present day. Below the Palace, on Tom Tom Kaptan Sok, stands the Italian Consulate, originally the Palazzo di Venezia, built in the seventeenth century. Casanova stayed here in 1744, and according to his memoirs he didn't make a single conquest, although one Ismail Efendi claims to have been seduced by him. Turning left off İstiklâl Caddesi, Hamalbaşı Sok, leads in 100m to the British Consulate, an impressive Renaissance-style structure, designed by Charles Barry, architect of the British Houses of Parliament.
The northernmost stretch of İstiklâl Caddesi and its offshoots boasts many of the area's bars and restaurants. The famous Çiçek Pasaj (Flower Passage) had its heyday in the 1930s when the music and entertainment was supplied courtesy of anti-Bolshevik Russian emigrés. These days it's home to a collection of attractive but rather overpriced and touristy restaurants – it's far better to head through to the Balik Pazarı (fish market), particularly Nevizade Sokak, a street dedicated to fish restaurants (all with outside tables), and incredibly lively bars and clubs.