Fener and Balat Half-Day Guided Walking Tour

Fener and the Ecumenical Patriarchate

The walk starts by the Fener bus stop on the Golden Horn shore road, three minutes from the Fener station of the T5 tram, and heads straight into the lanes of Fener, the quarter where Greek families lived after the Ottoman conquest. Its centre is the Church of St George, a modest 18th-century basilica behind a high wall that has been the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the senior church of the Orthodox world, since 1601. Entry is included and you spend about 45 minutes inside with the guide.

The church is famous for its gilded iconostasis, the patriarchal throne said to date from Byzantine times, a fragment of the column of the flagellation and the relics of three saints. The main gate has stayed welded shut since 1821; visitors use the side entrance. Dress modestly: shorts, short skirts and sleeveless tops are not admitted.

The colourful stairs and the Phanar Greek Orthodox College

From the Patriarchate the lanes climb steeply, and the guide warns you in advance: the hill of Fener is the one real effort of the day. On the way up you pass the painted stairs that have become the quarter's best-known photo stop, with a short break to catch your breath and take pictures. At the top stands the Phanar Greek Orthodox College, the huge red brick school with a central dome that locals call the Red School, built in 1881 to a design by a Greek architect and still teaching a handful of pupils today.

The school is seen from outside, as is the former residence of a Romanian prince nearby, known as the Cantemir house. From the terrace in front the view runs down over the rooftops to the Golden Horn, and the guide explains how the Greek, Armenian, Jewish and Bulgarian communities shared these hills for centuries.

The Church of St Mary of the Mongols

A few steps from the Red School is the small Church of St Mary of the Mongols, also called Panagia Paramythia or the Bloody Church, painted deep red. Built in 1266 by a Byzantine princess who had been married to a Mongol khan and returned to found a convent, it is the only church in Istanbul that has been in Greek Orthodox hands without interruption since before the conquest, because Mehmed II granted it to the architect of the Fatih Mosque. The guide shows the decree still kept inside and spends about 20 minutes here.

The church is usually opened on request by its caretaker, so the visit depends on the day; when it is closed, the guide explains its story from the courtyard and continues along the lanes towards Balat, which begin to show their painted houses from here.

Balat, the coloured houses and the Ahrida Synagogue

Balat was for centuries the Jewish quarter of Istanbul, settled by families welcomed from Spain after 1492, and later shared with Greeks and Armenians. Today its steep streets of narrow three-storey timber and brick houses, painted red, yellow, blue and green with bay windows, are among the most photographed in the city, and the ground floors have filled with antique shops, bakeries and cafés where locals come for breakfast and Turkish coffee. The guide stops at the best-known row of coloured houses for photos and free time.

The walk passes the Ahrida Synagogue, founded in the 15th century by Jews from Ohrid in Macedonia and famous for its boat-shaped reading platform; it is seen from outside, as visits require advance permission. From here the lanes run down towards the Golden Horn shore.

The Bulgarian St Stephen Church, the Iron Church

The tour ends on the shore park of Balat at the Bulgarian St Stephen Church, known as the Iron Church because the whole building, walls, columns, galleries and bell tower, was cast in iron in Vienna in the 1890s, shipped down the Danube and across the Black Sea in pieces and bolted together on the Golden Horn. It was built for the Bulgarian community after it won its own church in 1870, on soft ground that could not take a stone building. Entry is included and you have about 30 minutes inside and in the garden.

The interior, restored in 2018, gleams with white and gold ironwork and painted icons. After the visit the guide points you to a café for a Turkish coffee (at your own expense), and the T5 tram or the Golden Horn ferry is a few minutes away for the trip back to Eminönü, Karaköy or Kadıköy.