Istanbul - Bağdat Avenue

Yesterday early evening I arrived in Istanbul. I'm staying with an Etsy friend, Serpil from SerpilGuneysu, who kindly opened her home for me. With a little rest after my journey we went for an evening walk to the famous Bağdat Avenue, which I hadn't seen before.

 It is a wide avenue with many chic shops, café's and restaurants. We walked till we could barely carry ourselves, from the seashore through the streets, it was lovely to see these new places for me.

 Bağdat Avenue also has a history, from Wikipedia: The origin of Bağdat Avenue was a road connecting Constantinople with Anatolia during the Byzantine and later the Ottoman periods, which was used for trade and military purposes. The road was named after Baghdad following the recapture of this city by Sultan Murad IV in 1638.

 The most catching building I saw was this amazing old mansion, now used by warehouse VAKKO,  looking amazing and clearly looked very well after.

During the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876–1909), some Pashas, high officials and wealthy traders, who wanted to be as close as possible to the palace, purchased land plots around Bağdat Avenue and erected luxurious wooden chalet mansions, some of which still exist today.