Balat is not a neighborhood you would visit on a standard tour to Istanbul—the kind that shuttles you between giant mosques like Hagia Sophia. If you want a real taste of the city and the people who live there, wander a smaller neighborhood. Balat is my favorite for its cobblestone lanes, record shops, cafés, second-hand clothing stores, colorful stairs, textiles and towel shops—and the cats. Cats rule Balat, and much of Istanbul.

Be prepared to lose yourself wandering around this village-like part of the city. I’d spend half a day in Balat, much of it in wanderer mode. This is one of Istanbul’s most quietly enchanting quarters, where cultures overlap not as a museum piece, but as a living, breathing fact.

For centuries Balat has been home to Jews, Greeks, Armenians, and Muslims, and that mosaic still shapes the streets. You’ll pass the Ahrida Synagogue, Orthodox churches, and modest mosques within minutes of each other. Unlike grand Sultanahmet, Balat’s diversity feels intimate and domestic—it’s history at human scale you can still touch and feel. Homes and cafés are built among crumbling walls and old fortifications, and the vibe among the people is good. As my Uber driver said arriving in Balat, “In Istanbul we love our cats, and hate our mayor.”

Balat has recently become a magnet for vintage lovers and collectors (some say it happened when Coffee Department opened in 2010), but it hasn’t lost its edge and grit.

Find old record players spinning Turkish tunes, bent silverware, Anatolian rugs, colorful caftans, postcards, rusted tools, and ceramic cups poking out from tiny shops that are halfway between a flea market and a time capsule. We saw men dancing in the street and attractive local couples (lovers?) having intense coffee conversations in the late sunny morning—on a weekday.

The prices in the second-hand clothing shops are not what they once were (here is our old guide to second hand clothing shops in Istanbul around Istiklal street), but the items are well-curated. And the second-hand shops in Istanbul will still offer you eastern garb such as cloaks and overcoats, plus colorful wool sweaters. The stairs and buildings in Balat are colorful too.

The joy of being in Balat—or in Istanbul in general—is not ticking off addresses and sites of interest. It’s letting curiosity pull you down side streets where eye contact can lead to a conversation.

Three Cafes Worth Lingering In

Velvet Cafe – A Balat institution. Mismatched furniture, plants everywhere, and the feeling that time has agreed to slow down. Looks like a place to join a revolution—or start one.

Naftalin Kafe – Nostalgia perfected: old family photos, radios, and Turkish coffee that tastes like it belongs to the room. Cats rule the café. Notice our top photo taken recently outside Naftalin on one of the main tourist streets, where the cat is telling the waitress who to serve next.

Coffee Department in Balat – A more modern stop with excellent coffee, popular with locals and creatives without breaking the spell of the neighborhood. Believed to be the café that opened Balat up to becoming a prime tourist destination.

This is cat country, and humans know it. Cats lounge on stoops, café chairs, shop counters, and car hoods with total confidence and airs of superiority. They do let you touch—on their terms. Bowls of food appear mysteriously. Some cats even drop down on a rope from the sky (or the top-floor apartment). People have built cat houses for their furry friends, and non-profits exist to help foreigners send a beloved Balat street-cat back home with quarantine and papers (see Paws of Hope if you are interested in the adoption process). This is far from the Erdoğan-style Turkey that has called for the culling of millions of Turkish street dogs.

In Balat, cats are not a feature. They are the management.

Explore your faith in interfaith

Balat wears its interfaith history casually. As you wander, the names surface naturally: the Ahrida Synagogue and Yanbol Synagogue, quiet and inward-looking, echo Balat’s once-thriving Jewish life. Then the call to prayer drifts from neighborhood mosques like Ferruh Kethüda, Tahta Minare, and Balat Çavuş; and church bells mark time at St. George (Aya Yorgi), St. Mary of the Mongols, and the iron-clad St. Stephen Church by the water. Holding time are the crumbling Byzantine walls—cracked, vine-covered, and indifferent to faith—reminding you that in Balat, coexistence was a daily habit.

Follow the slope down toward the historic Golden Horn and you’ll find fishermen casting lines for small fish, chatting here and there while watching the water—and making sure the crows and the cats don’t fish the tiny fish out of the buckets.

Second hand clothing and vintage shops in Balat, Istanbul

Istanbul is known for its curios and second-hand clothing shops. You will get a taste of it all in Balat as you wander the streets. We came across a few vintage and second-hand clothing shops. The prices were not cheap (a T-shirt was priced around 25 Euros), so if you are in the business of bargain-basement shopping, better shop elsewhere in America or Canada at church thrift shops.

Ayca Vintage

Ayca vintage has a great vibe, with African drumming and song beckoning you to come in. We guessed it was the owner who peeked at us from under her hat—cat nearby—journaling. The shop is stocked with vintage caftans and colorful sweaters. She’s taken the selection job out of your day.

Ayvansaray mahallesi sultan çeşmesi cad. no:83A BALAT Fatih / istanbul

Twobavintage

Around the same area is Twobavintage, which stocks mainly kitschy kitchen items and relics from another era. There is a small selection of clothes in the back.

Ayvansaray Mahallesi Sultan Çesmesi Sokak No 94 Balat

Kulis vintage

Expect to pay a pretty penny for thrifted T-shirts and second-hand, western style here at Kulis Vintage. We found the same in Berlin when we were there 2 months ago. Highly curated, high prices—which is the way of the world for curated vintage in cities. Kensington Market in Toronto has been like that for decades.

Exploring the streets and finding colorful umbrellas and painted stairs in Balat is a must. Some parts are tourist traps, demanding you buy food before you enter. Some coffee shop owners say they have the best rooftop views of the Golden Horn. We can’t confirm.

We found an excellent towel and blanket shop with great prices. Where you can still find a deal is if you are looking for high-quality Turkish cotton towels. We found a shop, pictured below, where we bought a few high-quality towels for 200 LR each, about $5 USD. We didn’t bother bargaining because the price was fair and the seller was very nice.

His shop was down the street from Ayca Eastern Design. We didn’t get the full name, so show this man’s photo around the neighborhood and the locals will point out the way.

Off the Path: Working-Class Istanbul

Another face of Balat reveals itself when you leave the “Instagram streets.” Wander toward Cibali, where workshops still hum—metalworkers, repair shops, small factories—and life feels practical. This is also where you brush up against literary history.

Nearby lived Orhan Kemal, one of Turkey’s great writers of the working class. Kemal was the chronicler of laborers, factory hands, and the urban poor. He worked near the old Cibali Tobacco Factory (today part of Istanbul University), quite close to his former home, and wrote about the very people you still encounter here.

His presence lingers not as a plaque-heavy attraction, but as a spirit. We walked past his modest corner house that holds a plaque to his name. Impressive wooden houses nearby are for sale, and we dream about being a writer from his vantage point in this now-charming location.

Balat isn’t polished, and that’s exactly the point. It rewards slow walking and making mistakes. Tune into a few landmarks that interest you and wander toward them, noticing what you meet, smell, and hear along the way. On one of our meanderings we came across three schoolboys “cat-napping” a cat in their backpack to take home.

We also appreciated that some of the local artisans, like the owner of ilitya, are opening their studios for hands-on experiences. He is a graduate of design school and, unlike the thousands of traditional pottery studios in Turkey, he sells modern functional-ware. Made in molds and glazed in the studio, you can buy—or study and make your own—your choice.

We took a taxi to Balat from our hotel, but plenty of buses and trams run right to this neighborhood.

Green Prophet’s trip to Istanbul was sponsored by the United Religions Initiative, an interfaith network for peace and reconciliation. Their travel grant allowed us to tour Istanbul’s heritage independently to witness and report on the city’s diversity and heritage.

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Berlin still feels like the last cool city humans can be human before everything moves into the cloud. We took a five-day family trip with a Green Prophet mindset — low-impact, curious, no interest in polished tourist loops.

Generator Hostel is often recommended as a budget option for families in Mitte. We considered it but felt that Mitte is too far from it all, and instead contacted eco-leaning hotels to see who had space. Circus was full. Orania was almost full and offered a family room for 750 Euros, still well beyond budget. Michelberger, noted for its regenerative farm on the outskirts of Berlin, had two loft rooms available for a family of four, 300 Euro, — booked immediately. The location was excellent, the brunch breakfast was an added 24 Euro each (you can choose each day), and if you have time to linger, this farm-to-table option is worth it.

A cafe on the other side of the hotel offers a great place to have a cappuccino and a buttery croissant. Artists, designers and fashion types also pop in off the streets by day, and to hear DJs (and sometimes) live music by night. At Michelberger you are in the center of it all without leaving the hotel. I’ve never felt that way before, except once at a $10 a night hostel in San Jose, Costa Rica. I am too old for bedbugs and 7 people to a cramped dorm room.

Every other night a bean bag room on the 5th floor turns into a movie house called the Forest Theater, upgrading your trip to the feeling of a global nomad without having to travel to Chiang Mai. We peeked in on a film at 8pm and it was packed.

The loft bed setup in Michelberger made the room feel like a treehouse. We took 2 rooms for a family of 4, but 3 could fit comfortably if you are planning on being out of the room by day. Climbing up into the king bed every night felt like a repeat moment of “okay, I can live like this.” Beds and pillows were excellent.

Note on scent: the hotel uses aromatherapy-type smells in the rooms, lobby and common areas. They’re from natural oils and noticeable. If you’re scent-sensitive, just be aware — it’s part of the Michelberger identity.

Breakfast at Michelberger is a meal you actually remember. Sourdough bread, jams, vegetables, cheese, the best apple I ate in my life,  — a lot of it coming from the hotel’s own farm. It reminded us of farm stays in Sweden like Stedsans: real food, not hotel buffet food. Designers we know travel to Berlin and mark this place as THE place to brunch and we get why.

The Michelberger building used to be an East German factory. Now it’s full of laptops, fashion people, and families like us who are tired of standard hotels. You hear multiple languages at every table. The shared spaces are active but not chaotic. It’s rare to walk into a hotel and feel like you are part of something bigger.

Simple but good touches: Dr. Bronner’s soap in the rooms, mesh shelves, big desks, nothing overly designed but everything considered. My husband says that’s the German way.

The location is ideal — right next to Warschauer Straße S-Bahn and U-Bahn. From there you can get anywhere in Berlin or to the airport without thinking. Michelberger is in the quirky Friedrichshain district and it’s a walk or a two-stop tram ride to the Kreuzberg district.

Berlin from Michelberger — Walkable, Raw, and Full of Side Missions

RAW-Gelände is minutes away — graffiti walls, skate ramps, concerts, bars operating out of shipping containers, and informal market days where Berliners unload boots full of old Doc Martens and Adidas. Bargain and bring a hood or umbrella because Berlin weather shifts every hour.

Once a 19th-century train repair yard (the Reichsbahn-Ausbesserungs-Werk), this abandoned industrial strip is now one of the last true subcultural zones left in central Berlin. Since being taken over by artists and outsiders in the late ’90s, it’s evolved into a graffiti-covered hub packed with clubs, bars, an indoor skate park, a climbing gym, and a Sunday flea market. It feels less like a tourist site and more like Berlin holding onto its rough edges on purpose.

Skatehalle inside RAW is a full skatepark indoors with sessions for different skill levels and even wheelchair sessions. Teens will not be bored.

Dog Shit Park nearby (nickname earned) is where you meet people actually living in Berlin, not touring it. We met Collin there — former snowboard film guy — who said, “You look like you want to skate and spray paint. Why did you come here? Too bad not earlier, I could have shown you the alternative Berlin” in a way only Berlin locals can.

Boxhagener Platz (Boxi) is a short walk — calm park on weekdays, full flea market on Saturdays. RAW on Sunday felt more alive and less curated than the Boxhagener Platz, with stuff that can be bought on a Chinese website and sold as trinkets.

We ate mostly vegan and Berlin makes it easy. 1990 Vegan Living — Vietnamese-style vegan bowls, tofu panko sticks — easy crowd-pleaser. About 100 Euros for a family of 4 including alcohol. You can’t make reservations and if you have a chance, choose a table on the right side if you like action and people watching.

Iro Izakaya (vegan tapas and sake) was my husband’s top meal of the entire trip. It’s supposed to be Japanese but tasted like an Asian fusion restaurant. Also about 100 Euros for a family of 4 dinner. The kids still like ramen, so noodles and Asian food was an easy way for us to please all. A ramen bowl was about 15 Euros. I didn’t love the broth and had much better vegan ramen in Japan. You can’t please everyone all of the time.

Museums weren’t a focus, but the Vintage Computer Museum was a hit (Computerspiele Museum) — kids can actually play old Sega and arcade games without time limits. DDR Museum gave the kids a practical picture of East German life — like a kibbutz apartment but with more 70s wallpaper. It was my way to warn them about Communism.

Useful Stops for Teens and People Who Like Real Shops

• Green Fuzz – non-vintage alt clothing store, actually interesting.

• Wollparadies Fadeninsel – right next door, full of hand-dyed wool, very Waldorf-friendly.

• Voo  – scent and ceramic heaven, items look like they were pulled from a flea market but priced like art objects (just look, don’t commit).

• Search and Destroy Skateshop – for kids who actually skate, not just wear skate brands.

• There are vintage shops everywhere but they feel overpriced for someone who shops vintage in small charity shops in Canada. Even Humana, with its outlets around Berlin are very overpriced. Pop in though if you need a sexy dirndl costume for Octoberfest or a pair of Lederhosen.

Train rides in Berlin double as people-watching. Watch out for BVG tourist passes bought through an app. We made an expensive mistake, spending $250 for a 3-day local tram pass for our family. We mistakenly bought the pass that included museums free of charge, and one of the days all the museums were closed. We hadn’t intended on going to any of the museums that were free with that pass. I reached out to customer service and they said the passes are, sadly non-refundable. Try and research the passes and what you need online before your trip, and I suggest buying single ride tickets the first day you are there, to see if it’s worth for you to buy any passes. In some instances taking an Uber on short trips made it more worth our while.

Beyond that unpleasantness, the trains are great and easy to navigate. A little less easy for me than Japan.

Multicultural, relaxed, with vegan döner and kepap stands at almost everywhere outside of them. We tried Indian food one night at in Oranienstraße at Amrit (not far from the station) and it was forgettable, but a Pakistani taxi driver later told us where the “real” places were— filed for next time.

If You’ve Got a Few Days and Don’t Want the Usual

• Use Michelberger as a base and explore everything within a 20-minute walk before you even consider museums. We heard that the Natural History Museum is great for kids –– the aquarium too. But our kids have travelled to so many large cities from Toronto to Bangkok, where these kinds of copy-paste museums seem to be a carbon copy of each other and a place to go when you need to kill time and not get the true vibe of the place.

• Sit at RAW for an hour or a few and just watch. Get to Holstmarket 25. We didn’t make it, but it’s earmarked for our next stay.

• Let teens spend a session or two at Skatehalle while you explore Boxi or grab coffee. Book in advance so you aren’t disappointed. Skatehalle offers a beginner’s session for kids for 20 Euros on Sunday mornings from 9 to 11. My son loved it. They have a number of drop in times throughout the week.

• Mauerpark on Sunday for markets and karaoke

• Look up what’s on at SO36 or About Blank instead of Googling “best nightlife.” We caught a show with the teens at Prachtwerk. Berlin works better without lists.

• We didn’t get to the Liquidrom or Vabali spas this trip. The kids needed our full attention. Next time we will look for events at the Tempelhofer Feld, an old airstrip turned into a giant public park, and maybe a hike to Teufelsberg in Berlin, a man-made hill in the Grunewald Forest that is home to an abandoned Cold War listening station used by the US and its allies.

• Rent a bike and drive around without a plan.

Michelberger, designed by re-use architects: Jonathan Tuckey Design in 2018, is the best home base if you can stretch to it. From there, Berlin unfolds itself without needing much planning. Don’t sweat it by booking trips.

::Michelberger

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Abdali market appeared every Thursday in a central city bus depot.  Hundreds of vendors hawked clothes, housewares, toys, and tools at reasonable prices (outrageously cheap from an ex-pat point of view). There were food vendors and an extensive fruit and vegetable market.  Sellers stayed through Friday afternoon, some sleeping beneath their tables. Everything was orderly, clean, and covered by a patchwork roof of plastic tarps which kept the market cooler in summer, and protected in winter.

For months, there were rumors that the market was relocating to a new downtown site in Ras al Ain but the makeshift shops remained. In faltering Arabic, I’d ask my favorite vendors what was happening.  They’d laugh, fist-bump each other, and say they were staying put.  Then, in October, GAM closed the souk.

Around 100 street sellers clashed with anti-riot police. Protesters threw Molotov cocktails and the cops responded with tear gas, arresting several merchants. Then GAM bulldozed the stalls and immediately began work to tear up sections of pavement.  It was a violent end to an Amman tradition. (Image above is the aftermath of the riot).

Writer-disclosure: I’m a lifelong charity-shop-shopper, scoring deep discounts on old books, vinyl records, housewares, and clothes.  Men’s tuxedo pants and giant overcoats bought at American Salvation Army stores were the backbone of my university wardrobe. Here in Amman, I scoured the souk for supplies for my endless arts and crafts projects.  I’ve made mittens from moth-eaten cashmere sweaters and curtains from silk scarves.  I wasn’t alone.

Locals and foreigners from every layer of Amman’s economy used the souk; you could pick out foreign NGO workers, South Asian maids, and tourists looking for an off-the-path experience.  Friends who could afford to ski in Europe bought their jackets and ski pants at the souk for less than the price of coffee in a Zermatt cafe. Others would convert $50 raised at a school bake sale into two dozen warm hoodies to give to a local orphanage.  For many people, on many levels, this market worked.

For five weeks I searched the new Ras Al Ain site for vendors.  The large parking lot (7 acres) with ready-made stalls placed within neatly painted boundaries was empty.  Week after week, no one showed up.  It may have been a form of protest, or process delays (vendors needed to get permits).  For over a month, a guard said, “Insha’Allah, next week.”

Now the market is back. My guess is 50% of the vendors are still missing, and the produce stalls are gone.

GAM said the move alleviated traffic jams and safeguarded public health with medical facilities and added parking. The city is also studying adding Saturday to the mix for a 3-day market served by a shuttle bus. All good, plus the new site is visually interesting; it is ringed by concrete walls splattered with vivid graffiti.  The area seems empty by comparison to the old market, hopefully, over time, the remaining vendors will return.

As cities race towards modernity, it is critical that urban functionality remains. Sleek architecture may be a city’s face, but small economic and social engines like Abdali souk are it’s soul.

Image of old souk from The Jordan Times; all others by author

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