MOVEMENT — Şehir Hatları
Bosphorus Ferry — The Commute Between Continents
A twenty-minute ferry ride from Karaköy to Kadıköy costs the same as a bus ticket and crosses from Europe to Asia — Istanbul's oldest and best form of transport.
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Edit No.26 — Istanbul, Still Moving
Vakko Hotel Sümahan Bosphorus, Rüstem Pasha Mosque, Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamamı, Pandeli, Bosphorus Ferry.
Edit No.26 is Istanbul, still moving. Five places that were built for one purpose and kept working through everything that followed.
Vakko Hotel Sümahan Bosphorus began as a mid-nineteenth-century distillery producing suma, the raw spirit behind rakı; the family who owned it converted the derelict building, and Vakko runs it now. Rüstem Pasha Mosque sits on stilts above a working bazaar, paid for by the rent from the shops beneath it. Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamamı, built by Sinan for an admiral who started as a galley slave, was derelict for centuries and then rebuilt to the original specification.
Pandeli grew out of a bean-salad stall in 1901 and ended up with a tiled dining room in the roof of the Spice Bazaar. And the Şehir Hatları ferry still crosses from Europe to Asia in twenty minutes for the price of a bus ticket, which remains the best way to see the city.
In this edit
WELLNESS — Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamamı
Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamamı — The Ritual That Never Needed Reinventing
Built by the Ottoman Empire's greatest architect for an admiral who began his life as a galley slave. Derelict for centuries, then rebuilt to the exact specification of the man who designed it.
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PLACE — Rüstem Pasha Mosque
Rüstem Pasha Mosque — The Mosque Above the Market
A mosque built on stilts above a working bazaar, funded by the rent from the shops beneath it, holding some of the finest tile work the Ottoman Empire ever produced.
Read →LIVING — Vakko Hotel Sümahan Bosphorus
Vakko Hotel Sümahan Bosphorus — The Distillery That Stayed in the Family
A raki distillery on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, converted decades ago by the family who once ran it, now under Vakko's hospitality name, reached by the hotel's own boat rather than a road.
Read →Each article in this edit is experienced first-hand and written independently. All Vitae Lifestyle articles are archived under Lifestyle and can be read out of sequence.
Questions about this edit
What is in Lifestyle Edit No.26?
Five Istanbul pieces: Vakko Hotel Sümahan Bosphorus, Rüstem Pasha Mosque, Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamamı, Pandeli, and the Şehir Hatları Bosphorus ferry between Karaköy and Kadıköy.
What was Sümahan originally used for?
A raki distillery, built in the mid-19th century to produce suma, the raw spirit used to make Turkey's national aperitif. "Han" roughly translates to inn in Ottoman usage.
Why is Rüstem Pasha Mosque built above the market?
It was raised on a platform above a row of shops in Tahtakale so the rent from the traders beneath would fund the mosque's upkeep. The prayer hall holds some of the finest İznik tile work the Ottoman Empire produced.
What makes Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamamı different from other Istanbul hamams?
It was designed by Mimar Sinan and, after centuries of dereliction, restored over seven years to the exact specification of the original building rather than modernised into a spa.
Which ferry route is worth taking across the Bosphorus?
Karaköy to Kadıköy on the Şehir Hatları line. Twenty minutes, the price of a standard transport fare, and a working commuter crossing rather than a tourist cruise.