Kadıköy & Moda: the back story

About Kadıköy & Moda: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Istanbul Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Kadıköy stands on the site of ancient Chalcedon, founded on the Asian shore before Byzantium itself. Today it is the liveliest district of the Asian side: a market, a creative young crowd, independent shops, street art and a bar street, with the quieter, leafy streets of Moda running down to the sea.

Chalcedon

Greek settlers founded Chalcedon on this shore in the 7th century BC, a few years before Byzantium. In 451 the city hosted the Council of Chalcedon, one of the great councils of the early Church. Little survives, but the name lives on in the history books.

The market

Step off the ferry and walk into the market streets: fishmongers, cheese and olive shops, pickle sellers, delis, coffee roasters and Çiya Sofrası, with its dishes from every corner of Anatolia. It is at its best in the late morning.

Kadıköy was the ancient city of Chalcedon, founded in the 7th century BC.

Moda

South of the centre, Moda is a quieter, residential neighbourhood of old apartment buildings, cafés and ice-cream shops. Its seafront park and tea gardens look across to the old city and the Princes’ Islands, and at sunset the whole neighbourhood seems to be sitting by the water.

Night on the Asian side

Kadife Sokak, the bar street, is busy every night, and there are wine houses, small music venues and the elegant Süreyya Opera House on Bahariye Caddesi. It is more relaxed and less touristy than Beyoğlu.

Getting there

Ferries run frequently from Eminönü, Karaköy and Beşiktaş to Kadıköy; the Marmaray stops at Ayrılık Çeşmesi nearby, and the M4 metro continues to Sabiha Gökçen Airport.

Our advice: take the ferry across for a late breakfast, explore the market, have lunch at Çiya, walk to Moda for the sunset, and stay for the evening on Kadife Sokak. Then ride the last ferries back across the lit-up water.

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