About this place
In Ottoman times this was the Grande Rue de Péra, the main street of the European quarter with its embassies, churches, theatres and department stores; it was renamed İstiklal (Independence) in 1923. The 1.4-kilometre pedestrian street is lined with late 19th- and early 20th-century buildings, arcades such as Çiçek Pasajı and the Catholic Basilica of St Anthony of Padua. Evenings and weekends make it one of the busiest streets in the city, and the side streets hide bookshops, meyhanes and music venues.
