Lonely Planet İstanbul Guide

2 Neighbourhood Walk Ottoman Heartland

START SÜLEYMANIYE MOSQUE END WOMEN’S BAZAAR LENGTH 2KM; TWO HOURS

Start at the magnificent 1 Süleymaniye Mosque, cross Professor Sıddık Sami Onar Caddesi and enter narrow Ayşekadın Hamamı Sokak (opposite the mosque’s main gate). Follow it and Kayserili Ahmetpaşa Sokak through the Molla Hüsrev district, which is slowly being restored as part of the Süleymaniye Urban Regeneration Project. Kayserili Ahmetpaşa Sokak is home to a number of pretty timber houses built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the 2 Kayserili Ahmet Paşa Konağı, a three storey mansion once home to an Ottoman navy minister and now headquarters of the city’s Directorate of Inspection of Conservation Implementation. Follow the street and veer right until you come to the 3 Ekmekçizade Ahmetpaşa Medresesi, built between 1603 and 1617 by the son of a baker from Edirne who rose up the ranks of Ottoman