Cukurcuma is the antique quarter of Beyoglu, and at under two hundred metres from the hotel it is effectively the neighbourhood next door. The streets are steep and narrow, and the shops occupy the ground floors of nineteenth-century apartment buildings.
What is sold here is genuinely mixed: Ottoman furniture, brass and copper, old photographs, film posters, vinyl, glassware, and a good deal that defies category. Prices are negotiable but the manner is quieter than in the bazaars — most dealers will let you look for half an hour without saying a word.
Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence stands in the same streets and is worth combining with the walk. Most shops open around eleven and close by seven; several take Sundays off.
Category:
Shopping