Beyoğlu & Galata: the back story

About Beyoğlu & Galata: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Istanbul Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Galata was a walled Genoese colony in the Middle Ages, with its tower of 1348. In the 19th century Pera spread up the hill along the Grande Rue, now İstiklal Avenue, with embassies, arcades, cafés and theatres. Karaköy below, the old port and banking district, has been reborn with galleries, cafés and the Galataport waterfront.

Genoese Galata

From the 13th century, the Genoese ran a trading colony on the hill opposite Constantinople, with its own walls and the Galata Tower at the top. After 1453 it remained a quarter of foreign merchants, Greeks, Armenians and Jews, with churches, synagogues and han warehouses that still line its steep streets.

The Grande Rue de Péra

In the 19th century Pera, as Europeans called it, became the city’s modern, cosmopolitan face. The Grande Rue, today İstiklal Avenue, filled with embassies, department stores, patisseries, cinemas and arcades such as the Çiçek Pasajı; the Pera Palace Hotel opened in 1892 for passengers of the Orient Express.

The Tünel funicular between Karaköy and Beyoğlu opened in 1875.

Karaköy reborn

Below Galata, Karaköy was the port and banking district, with grand bank buildings on Bankalar Caddesi. Today its lanes are full of cafés, galleries and restaurants, SALT Galata occupies the old Ottoman Bank, and Galataport has opened the waterfront, with Istanbul Modern by the Bosphorus.

Cihangir and Çukurcuma

South-east of İstiklal, Cihangir is a leafy, bohemian neighbourhood of cafés and cats, with views over the Bosphorus; below it, Çukurcuma is the antiques quarter, home of the Museum of Innocence.

At night

Beyoğlu is where Istanbul goes out: meyhanes in Asmalımescit and Nevizade, rooftop bars with views of the old city, jazz at Nardis, and İstiklal busy until late.

Our advice: walk from Karaköy up through Galata to the tower, then along İstiklal to Taksim, with a detour to Cihangir and Çukurcuma; come back for a meyhane dinner and a rooftop nightcap. Stay here if you want nightlife on your doorstep.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Beyoğlu & Galata: the back story before you go.