Lonely Planet İstanbul Guide

Kuzguncuk in the late 18th century. The word yalı comes from the Greek word for ‘coast’, and describes the summer residences along the Bosphorus built by Ottoman aristocracy and foreign ambassadors in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, now all protected by the country’s heritage laws. A little further along on your left is the recently restored Ortaköy Mosque. The mosque’s dome and two minarets are dwarfed by the adjacent Bosphorus Bridge , opened in 1973 on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic. The bridge acquired its now-official name of the Martyrs of July 15 Bridge after the unsuccessful military coup in July 2016. Under the bridge on the European shore are two huge yalıs: the red-roofed Hatice Sultan Yalı ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Ortaköy; g 22 & 25E from Kabataş, 22RE & 40 from Beşiktaş, 40, 40T & 42T from Taksim) , once the home of Sultan Murad V’s daughter, Hatice; and the Fehime Sultan Yalı ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Ortaköy; g 22 & 25E from Kabataş, 22RE & 40 from Beşiktaş, 40, 40T & 42T from Taksim) , home to Hatice’s sister Fehime. Both are undergoing massive restorations and will be transformed into luxury hotels. On the Asian side is the ornate Beylerbeyi Palace ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; Beylerbeyi Sarayı; % 0212-327 2626; www.millisaraylar.gov.tr; Abdullah Ağa Caddesi, Beylerbeyi; adult//student/child under 7yr ₺ 20/ ₺ 5/free; h 9am-4.30pm Tue, Wed & Fri-Sun Apr-Oct, to 3.30pm Nov-Mar; g 15 from Üsküdar) , a 26-room waterside getaway built in 1865 for Abdül Aziz I (r 1861–76). Designed by Sarkis Balyan, brother of Nikoğos (architect of Dolmabahçe Palace), the baroque-style building delighted both Abdül Aziz and the foreign dignitaries who visited. The palace’s last imperial ‘guest’ was the former sultan Abdül Hamit II, who spent the last years of his life (1913–18) under house arrest here. The palace interior features a grand selamlik (ceremonial quarters) and a small but opulent harem. Highlights include a hall featuring a huge marble pool used for cooling during summer, the elaborately painted and gilded sultan’s apartment, the pretty sea-facing reception rooms of the valide sultan (mother of the sultan), the lavishly decorated blue hall in the selamlik and the dining room with chairs covered in gazelle skin. On the shoreline, look for its