Ortaköy is a town on the European side located between Beşiktaş and Kurucesme in Besiktas district, where the Bosphorus Bridge is built on the European side. Ortaköy was a village and a summer resort during the Ottoman Empire. Today it is a cultural seaside avenue with bars, cafes, restaurants, street artist and artisans, and souvenir shops. Ortaköy is also one of the towns in Istanbul where a mosque, sinagog and church are built in the same place.
You can walk to Ortaköy from Besiktas past the Ciragan Palace, have a kumpir at the fast food büfe, drink a tea or coffee and play tavla or okey at the cafes, feed the pidgeons, cats and dogs in the avenue, see the street artisans on the backstreets, the best is that you can take photos of the Ortaköy Mosque and the Bosphorus Bridge.
Did you know?
Büyük Mecidiye Camii or Ortaköy Camii, built by the Armenian architect Nigogos Balyan in 1853, was designed in Neo baroque style?
