Walk in the historical part of Istanbul

The BA's students and our teacher from Leiden University came to Istanbul for a week to explore the city and learn from our experiences for their coming exchange year. From Monday till Friday we will make a tour somewhere in Istanbul. Since everybody should be able to find the touristic highlights such as the Aya Sofia and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, our teacher decided to take us to unknown places where there are a lot of historical sites and interesting neighborhoods.
Today we started in the Şehzade mosque which is across the Istanbul Municipality in Fatih. The Şehzade cami is built by the famous Ottoman architect Sinan and has some interesting facts. It was Sultan Suleyman who ordered this mosque to be built for his son Prince Mehmet. Prince Mehmet was the Sultan's favorite son and not only he built him a mosque he also made sure that someone else made the hajj in his place. Not just because was it a dangerous travel that prevented Prince Mehmet to make the hajj himself, but also he was lame and therefore he was simply not able to. This shows that the Sultan did everything in his power to make sure his son would be able to go to heaven.
From the Şehzade Cami we walked around the neighborhood to look at some very old mosques and churches that were changed into mosques over time. It is an interesting neighborhood because it used to be a place where Muslim Ottoman elite would settle and which used to be very prosperous. Unfortunately there are not so many traces left of this prosperity because Muslims would make their homes from wood and almost all of them are destroyed, burned or in ruins. However there can still be seen a couple of very old mosques which were built almost right after the conquest of Constantinople. The scattered street pattern is also very typical for this neighborhood. And of course a trip to this part of Istanbul is not complete without a visit to the oldest and most famous Boza shop which still produces traditional Boza. Boza is a kind of drink which you also can eat with a spoon. It was used to be food/drink for the poor people because it’s quite heavy on the stomach. It has a kind of sour and tingling taste to it because of the yeast. Well…just try it for yourself, it’s hard to explain.
The wooden houses I mentioned which are hard to find can still be seen in the neighborhood which is called Hacıkadın. Between the total ruins of gecekondu type houses you see beautiful old wooden houses. Most of them are in horrific state but the gentrification process has also started here, so in some parts these wooden houses are renovated and brought back to their former glory mostly by artists and architects who can appreciate the historical value. Perhaps in 10 years from now this neighborhood will look just like Cihangir.
We ended our trip on the not so popular part of the Bazar, near the Egyptian Spice Bazar, where they mostly sell tools, water taps, axes and those sort of things. Mainly a men domain I would say. I know my dad would go totally crazy there... Hidden between all those shops is the beautifully decorated Grand Vizir Mosque with it’s famous Iznik tiles, the Rüstem Paşa Cami. Here are some pictures of the trip.
How to get there: You can take the bus from Taksim, but we decided to take the tramvay from Kabataş to avoid the morning rush hour. Take the tramvay all the way to Aksaray. Than walk upwards along the big street called Atatürk Blv. When you almost reach the top of the hill cross the street (safe option: use the stairs which lead you under the road to the other side). You will find the complex on your right across the Istanbul Municipality building.