Off the Beaten Path in Fatih

The Couchsurfing photowalk that took me to Yedikule Fortress didn’t end there. We spent much of the rest of the day wandering around the district of Fatih.

Fatih is an old neighborhood on the European side that encompasses much of old Istanbul, before the city started expanding. It was named for Fatih Sultan Mehmet (The Conqueror), who captured Constantinople and built the Fatih mosque. Though Fatih is actually a large and diverse district, it has a reputation for being conservative and religious. A friend of mine who has lived in Istanbul for more than a decade was surprised that I ended up there my first week. And honestly, had I not joined the photo walk, I wouldn’t have been there at all.

But you know what? It was great.

We walked from Yedikule Fortress back to the Golden Horn, through the Samatya neighborhood. The neighborhood was quiet and old and so DIFFERENT from the busy city centers that I’d spent my time in. There were no tourists in this part of Fatih—just people living their lives.

Here are some images from that day:

We had some fun in a seriously decrepit abandoned car.

It’s discovering these little pockets of Istanbul that makes me love it so.