“Dyer’s Village”
Boyacıköy is a pinprick of a Bosphorus suburb between Baltılimanı and Emirgan.It acquired its name when Sultan Selim III resettled dyers from Kirklareli in Thrace here so that they could use their skills to dye the city’s many fezes.
It’s unlikely that you’ll find yourself stopping here but if you do it’s worth trying to find Fırın Sokağı, an unexpectedly picturesque still-cobbled back street whose wooden houses are shaded by plane trees. Here stands the Greek Orthodox Church of Panagia Evangelistra (St Mary), built in 1834 with a newer school (1905) for the congregation’s children close by.
Also in the back streets is the Armenian Church of Surp Yerits Mangants (Three Holy Innocents), built in 1836 and reconstructed in 1885. The proximity of the two churches points, as so often, to the multiculturalism of the late Ottoman Empire.
Transport info
Any of the buses plying the Bosphorus coast road from Kabataş or Beşiktaş will be able to drop you off on the coast road at Boyacıköy.
Nearby areas
