Yıldız Park (Yıldız Parkı) is a beautiful park in Istanbul, Turkey. It’s located in the Yıldız neighborhood of the Beşiktaş district across the street from Çırağan Palace.
The Little Hagia Sophia Mosque (Küçük Ayasofya Camii) is one of my favorite mosques in Istanbul. It’s located in the Küçük Ayasofya neighborhood near Kadırga, a short walk from both the Sultanahmet area and the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque.
My friend Canan invited me to the Yenikapı Mevlevi Lodge one night to witness a Sufi Sema ceremony. It’s located in the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul.
Fener is a neighborhood on the southern shore of the Golden Horn in Istanbul. It’s full of charming Ottoman homes and a handful of Orthodox churches.
Kurtuluş was home to the popular Baklahorani, which is a carnival celebrated by the Greek Orthodox residents of Istanbul on the last Monday before Lent. It began as early as the 19th century and was celebrated annually until it was banned by the Turkish government in 1943.
Kurtuluş is a neighborhood in the district of Şişli in Istanbul, Turkey. I lived there for nearly a year and enjoyed my time there.
Çırağan Palace (Çırağan Sarayı) is a former Ottoman palace in Istanbul, Turkey. It’s located in the Yıldız neighborhood of the Beşiktaş district. On the hill just inland is Yıldız Park.
When you’re woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of someone walking through your neighborhood banging on a drum, you know it’s Ramadan in Istanbul.
Perhaps the least visited of the Princes’ Islands in Istanbul is Burgazada. For this reason, it’s also my favorite.
In my introduction to the Princes’ Islands, I noted there are nine islands altogether, four of which can be visited by public ferry (Büyükada, Heybeliada, Burgazada, and Kınalıada). What about the other five islands?