Istanbul Wrap-Up: Culinary Backstreets and more

I’m currently at Istanbul Airport awaiting my flight to my next destination. I’ll arrive tomorrow morning at 5:15. I’ll take this opportunity to share about my last day and a half in Istanbul: a food tour about more than just food, a visit to a church/mosque/museum with some beautiful mosaics, an ancient water storage system for the city, and a museum about Jews in Turkey.

Culinary Backstreets of the Bazaar Quarter

Last time I was in Istanbul, I took a Culinary Backstreets tour that spanned two continents. We covered a lot of ground and ate a lot of food.

The tour I took yesterday covered much less ground. We spent about six hours in the area around the Grand Bazaar, the labyrinthine marketplace that’s been around for more than 550 years. We ate a lot, of course, but we also visited various shops and artisan workshops. It was a great tour.

Chora Church, aka Kariye Mosque

History

This church turned mosque has a complex history.

Originally built in the 4th century, the structure was damaged by earthquakes and rebuilt several times. The current structure dates from the 14th century, and the frescos and mosaics that decorate the structre date from that time.

The Ottomans captured the city in 1453, and in 1500 Chora Church became Kariye Mosque. They added the minaret and a mihrab, and because Islam prohibits iconic images, workmen plastered over the mosaics and frescos.

In 1945 the government secularized the site, and it ceased to be a functioning mosque. Following the restoration of the artwork, the building opened as a museum in 1958.

A lawsuit led Turkey’s highest court to order, in 2020, that the building be reconverted to a mosque. It closed for renovation for four years, and it reopened for Muslim worship in 2024 (and as a museum). Since my last visit to Istanbul was in 2022, I didn’t get to see it then, so it was one of the sites I was especially eager to see this time.

Name

The original name of the church, Chora, is Greek. It refers to the countryside, as the church, at the time of its construction, was outside the city walls in a sparsely-populated area. The full name was Church of the Holy Savior in the Countryside. The name of the mosque, Kariye, is a Turkish word meaning the same thing.

Visit

The mosaics in the church depict stories from the life of Mary and of Jesus. They were impressive, but not awe-inspiring nor anything that made me weak in the knees like so many mosques in this city have done. Given that it required a tram and a bus and a walk to get there (it’s now in a populated part of the city, but still quite a ways from the Grand Bazaar), and it cost $25 to enter, I have to say I am not sure it was worth it.

Basilica Cistern

Built by Emperor Justinian (who also built the Hagia Sophia), this is the largest of a system of hundreds of underground cisterns that stored fresh water for the city. A series of underground pipes and aqueducts supplied the water from ten miles away. In its day, more than 20 million gallons of water filled it — enough to fill 30 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Today the cistern’s water level is just a foot or so deep, and steel walkways allow visitors to wander through. Supposedly there are goldfish, but I didn’t see any.

Quincentennial Foundation Museum Of Turkish Jews

The Ottomans welcomed Jews who were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition in 1492. To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of these Sephardic Jews, this museum opened in 2001. In 2015 it moved to its current location at Neve Salom Synagogue.

It’s a history museum, not my favorite, as there was more to read than to see. But I did get to visit the synagogue, which is one of five in use today in Istanbul. (In 1950, an estimated 55,000 Jews lived in Istanbul, but most emigrated to Israel. Today there are about 10,000.)

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Here is my photo album from my three and a half days in Istanbul. 

You can also check out my photos and blog posts from my previous visit to Istanbul.