Historic Yeldeğirmeni Street

After a ten minute walk from the Kadıköy ferry pier in the direction of Haydarpaşa, I arrive at İskele Street. This time, my goal is neither to enter the crowds of Kadıköy bazaar nor to swing in Moda. The destination is Yeldeğirmeni!

As soon as I start wandering the streets, I realize that this place is different from Kadıköy. Just as Topağacı has an independent character from Nişantaşı, Yeldeğirmeni, despite being part of Kadıköy, is a neighborhood just as different and full of surprises. As you walk through the hilly but tidy streets, one minute the Bosphorus winks at you, the next minute an old apartment building greets you with a giant mural next to it.

One of the oldest settlements in Istanbul, the neighborhood takes its name from the four windmills built by Sultan Abdülhamit I in the 18th century to meet the city's flour demand. Today, these windmills are no more. But the neighborhood's historic buildings stand in all their splendor.  Also known as the first apartment neighborhood of Istanbul, Yeldeğirmeni is famous for its Jewish apartments.