Çiçek Pasajı

Çiçek Pasajı is a covered arcade off İstiklal Caddesi in Beyoğlu, built in 1876 to the design of the architect Kleanthis Zannos and opened as the Cité de Péra. It went up on the ruins of the Naum Theatre, a house that had staged Verdi's Il Trovatore and had been frequented by Sultans Abdülaziz and Abdülhamid II before the Pera fire of 1870 destroyed it. The Ottoman Greek banker Hristaki Zoğrafos Efendi bought the wreck and commissioned the replacement, which first carried his name. No. The main arcade has a level entrance from İstiklal Avenue, though restaurant tables narrow the route; accessible toilets depend on individual businesses. No. Restaurants commonly serve beyond midnight. No. Yes at the main entrance. No. It is primarily a restaurant and tavern arcade. Taksim or Şişhane on M2. The covered passage is generally open daily from late morning until after midnight, while individual restaurants set their own service hours and may close one day weekly. Walking through the arcade is free; food, drink and entertainment are charged by each business. The main arcade has a level entrance from İstiklal Avenue, though restaurant tables narrow the route; accessible toilets depend on individual businesses. M2 Taksim or Şişhane reaches İstiklal Avenue; the passage entrance is opposite Galatasaray on the avenue. No. Restaurants commonly serve beyond midnight. No. Yes at the main entrance. No. It is primarily a restaurant and tavern arcade. Taksim or Şişhane on M2.

The flowers came from a revolution. Russian noblewomen who fled the 1917 revolution and arrived in Istanbul impoverished opened flower stalls in the arcade, and by the 1940s the building was mostly flower shops — which is where the present name comes from. Yorgo'nun Meyhanesi was the first winehouse to open here, and by the late 1950s the passage had taken on a wholly tavern identity, drawing writers including Yahya Kemal, Sait Faik and Orhan Veli. That run ended abruptly. Restaurants commonly serve beyond midnight. M2 Taksim or Şişhane reaches İstiklal Avenue; the passage entrance is opposite Galatasaray on the avenue.

Twenty minutes. The arcade is a single covered passage roughly fifty metres long, and twenty minutes is walking through it, looking up at the ironwork and the glass roof, and walking back. A meal in one of the meyhanes is an entirely different proposition and should be scheduled as a meal in its own right rather than folded into this stop. Anyone who sits down at a table has stopped visiting a monument and started having dinner, which is a fine thing to do here but is not what twenty minutes buys. No.

The covered passage is generally open daily from late morning until after midnight, while individual restaurants set their own service hours and may close one day weekly. Worship, weather, restoration and events can replace ordinary access. Yes at the main entrance.

Walking through the arcade is free; food, drink and entertainment are charged by each business. The base amount and currency follow the operator tariff; premium products and separate institutions remain excluded unless named. No. It is primarily a restaurant and tavern arcade.

M2 Taksim or Şişhane reaches İstiklal Avenue; the passage entrance is opposite Galatasaray on the avenue. Use the named stop and entrance because steep streets, controlled compounds and separate exits can change the practical route. Allow extra time for the final walk and security where applicable.

The main arcade has a level entrance from İstiklal Avenue, though restaurant tables narrow the route; accessible toilets depend on individual businesses. No. Restaurants commonly serve beyond midnight. No. Historic surfaces, crowds and security remain relevant. The covered passage is generally open daily from late morning until after midnight, while individual restaurants set their own service hours and may close one day weekly.

The subject is the roof. The glass above and the 1876 ironwork holding it are what distinguishes this arcade from a corridor, and the frame that works is the one shot straight up or straight down the length of the passage with the roof filling the top third. That means fighting the light. The glass is far brighter than the arcade floor, so a straight exposure gives either a blown-out roof or black tables; expose for the glass and let the lower half go dark, which suits the building anyway. Walking through the arcade is free; food, drink and entertainment are charged by each business.