Tiled Kiosk (çinli Kösk) of Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror

Until recently, closed for renovation, I was thrilled to finally see this museum. Turkish ceramic art is one of my favourite things.

The Lonely Planet Istanbul Guide says:
This building is thought to be the oldest surviving non-religious building in İstanbul. It was built in 1472 as an outer pavilion of the Topkapı Palace. It was used for watching sporting events. The recessed doorway area is covered with tiles – sometimes with white calligraphy on blue. The geometric patterns and colour of the tiles –turquoise, white, black – on the façade show Selcuk influence.

Much of the interior of the kiosk is covered with triangular and hexagonal tiles of brown, green, yellow and blue.

Much of the exhibition features İznik tiles from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Archaeological Museum

This is one of my favourite museums. It’s very close to the much more popularly visited Topkapı Palace.

This is part of the chain that the Byzantines stretched across the Golden Horn to keep out the Ottomans as they laid siege to Constantinople in 1453. It forms part of the İstanbul Through the Ages exhibition. (Actually, last time I saw this I thought it as at the Askerı (Military) museum, but things might have moved around - or there's two bits; certainly the Archaeological Museum has undergone a massive refurbishment in recent times - I always liked it, now it is outstanding.)

Part of the Tiled Kiosk, and the cafe

Giant earthenware pots, and worker cleaning the cases.

Piero at the cafe, 13 August 1989.

İstanbul transport - tram

İstanbul transport - big buses

Bus routes are numerous. This is the bus terminus at Taksim. Tickets can be bought at the white booths on the left.