5) Istanbul Jewish quarter and synagogues

The Balat quarter, a Jewish neighbourhood where many Jewish immigrants settled to help repopulate the city under Sultan Beyazit II.

The Ahrida Synagogue with is interesting Ottoman-Baroque-style architecture with a Nina (pulpit) shaped like the prow of a ship.

   (Photo: Ahrida)

A woman lowers the bucket from her window to purchase bread rolls from the street vendor.

The open ark at the Ashkenazi Synagogue in the centuries-old Galata Jewish quarter.

A find in the shule's bookshop - a collection of memoirs written by a Jewish-Turkish woman who attended the Jewish Lycée, Bene Berit (B'nai B'rith) in the Galata region.

    I buy this bowl with its symbolic tulip, the flower that is used in the mosques too and which represents perfect love.

   

 THE NEVE SHALOM SYNAGOGUE

The Neve Shalom has very tight security owing to the terrorist tragedies in 1986 and 2003. It's the largest modern synagogue in the city centre and home to a strong Jewish community and the Jewish Museum.

The old Jewish quarter surrounds the Galata Tower, above. We explore the neighbourhood, navigating the steep inclines off winding rough footpaths past historic diplomatic posts, stately old houses and fashionable cafes and boutiques.

         THE JEWISH MUSEUM

The Museum of Turkish Jews

(Photo: Izzet Keribar)

Megila Ester, story of Esther

(Photo: Izzet Keribar)

Minare Seklindeki Hanukiya, Hannukiyah in the shape of a minaret

(Photo: Izzet Keribar)

At the Jewish Museum we learn that 

Turkish consuls in various German occupied countries saved Turkish Jewish citizens from the gas chambers. Some did it at great risk to their lives.

Einstein wrote a letter to Ataturk to appeal to him to take in scientists whose lives were at risk during the Holocaust.

TIK, Sefer Tora Kabi from the Urfa Synagogue. (Photo: Izzet Keribar)

 DINNER CRUISE ALONG THE BOSPHORUS 

We cruise along the Bosphorus having dinner, watching belly-dancing and dancing to Turkish disco till the late hours.