Beyoglu's ornate Çiçek Pasaji (Flower Passage) on Istiklal Caddesi at Galatasaray Square is filled with restaurants.
Each evening the tables are filled with Turks and foreigners who come to talk, eat, laugh and linger over dozens of plates of meze, succulent kebaps, seafood, sweet desserts, and glass after glass of milky Turkish raki, beer or wine.
Beyoğlu nightlife once revolved around the meyhanes (Turkish tavernas) of Çiçek Pasajı, formerly the Cité de Pera building (1876), a combination shopping arcade and apartment block. Its heavily restored facade faces the school gates. These days it's the domain of tourists, a beautiful glass-roofed setting for an over-priced middling meal. Adjacent is the Balık Pazarı (Fish Market), still lined with shops fronted by great wooden trays of piscine still-life on ice. On the east side of the market passage at No.24A, hidden behind big black doors, is the Armenian Church of the Three Altars - it's rarely open but worth sticking your head in if you spot the chance.
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