Fener & Balat: Visiting the Neighbours

Fener and Balat sit side by side on the Golden Horn, and between them they hold almost the entire religious history of this city. Our six- to seven-hour walk begins at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the spiritual centre of the Orthodox world, where we step inside the Church of St. George. From the house of Dimitrie Cantemir and the colourful stairs we climb to the Red School high above the Golden Horn, the Church of St. Mary of the Mongols and the Ioakimion Girls’ School, then wander among the colourful houses and stepped streets of Fener.

We step inside the Church of St. Stephen of the Bulgars, cast in iron in Vienna and shipped down the Danube. After a lunch break we walk from the Balat market, the old Çıfıt Çarşısı with its Agora tavern, to the Yanbol and Ahrida synagogues, the Armenian Church of the Holy Archangels and the Ferruh Kethüda Mosque, and step inside the Church of Panagia Balinou. Through the Lonca quarter, known from the Turkish TV series Çukur, and past the Atik Mustafa Pasha Mosque, we finish at the Holy Spring of the Virgin of Blachernae in Ayvansaray.

Orthodox Greeks and Bulgarians, Armenians, Jews and Muslims lived on these streets as neighbours for five centuries. This is not a photo tour of coloured houses; it is a visit to the neighbours, door to door, and the story of five centuries of living side by side, told on the streets where it happened. Your guide is Osman Altay or one of our experienced guides; tours run in English or Turkish for 2 to 30 travellers. €100 per person, children under 12 free, lunch not included, no entrance fees for the sites we visit inside (donations to the churches are welcome), free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Shared tours run on Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays at 10:00; private tours for your own group can be arranged on other days, subject to availability.