Experience both contemporary and age-old arts and crafts alive and thriving in the back-street workshops of Istanbul. This walk will focus within the district of Beyoğlu, with its network of backstreets in which many artisan workshops are busy.  You’ll visit several such workshops, engaging with the people there to learn about their work and ways of living. Through these encounters you’ll develop your own understanding of creative life in this culture and its contemporary development.

Our experienced, characterful and clear English-speaking walk leader will meet you in a comfortable cafe, then accompany you out to navigate the backstreets together.

You’ll be taken to hidden-away workshops and introduced to the crafts-people working there, who’ll be proud to show you what they do. Some will have been working their trade for generations, keeping alive ancient ottoman skills, while others are fashionable and new, adding contemporary flair into the inspirational mix.

There will be absolutely no pressure to buy or any commissions involved. Your guide will be intuitive and sensitive to your particular interests as much as time allows. You’ll feel very different about Istanbul than you did 4 hours previously!