What to See Near Chora Church (Kariye Mosque)

A half day around Chora Church (Kariye Mosque)

Most visitors come to Edirnekapı for the mosaics and leave straight after. That wastes the trip. This corner of the old city holds the land walls, a Sinan mosque, a Byzantine palace and a second mosaic chapel, all on foot.

The walking estimates below are ours, taken from map distance. They are approximate. The hill is steep in places.

Theodosian Walls

The land walls went up under Theodosius II. The first phase was finished around 413, and the system was enlarged after an earthquake in 447 (source). The defence came in three layers: a tall inner wall with towers, a lower outer wall, and a moat in front.

Edirnekapı is the Byzantine Gate of Charisius. Mehmed II made his entry into the conquered city through it in 1453 (source). Stand at the gate and you see why this high ground mattered.

If you want to climb, go further south. Three gates, Mevlanakapı, Silivrikapı and Belgradkapı, have been turned into visitor centres with access to the towers and battlements (source). Do not climb unrestored sections. They are uneven and unguarded.

Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, Edirnekapı

Beside the gate stands the mosque that Mimar Sinan designed for Mihrimah Sultan in the sixteenth century (source). Construction is dated from about 1563 to 1570, on the summit of the city's sixth hill (source).

Go inside for the light. Much of the wall surface is windows, which makes the prayer hall one of the brightest of Sinan's interiors (source). It is an active mosque, so dress as you would for Chora and avoid prayer times.

Tekfur Palace (Palace of the Porphyrogenitus)

Follow the wall north and you reach a three-storey brick and stone facade. This is the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus, built around 1261 to 1291 after the Byzantines retook the city, and named for Constantine, a son of Michael VIII (source).

After the conquest the building had several lives. It housed the sultan's menagerie, then from 1719 a workshop that made glazed tiles. It became a museum in 2019 after a reconstruction that drew criticism from conservation specialists (source). It sits close enough to Chora to see both on one walk.

Fethiye Mosque (Pammakaristos Church)

If the Chora mosaics leave you wanting more, walk to Fethiye Mosque. The church of the Theotokos Pammakaristos was founded in the Komnenian period and restored after 1261 by the general Michael Glabas Tarchaneiotes. Around 1310 his widow added a side chapel as his burial place (source).

That chapel is the reason to come. Its dome shows Christ Pantokrator ringed by twelve prophets, with a Deesis in the apse, made within a few years of the work at Chora. The Orthodox patriarch had his seat here from around 1455 to 1587. The church then became a mosque under Murad III and took the name Fethiye, "conquest" (source). The chapel was separated as a museum after restoration in the twentieth century. Check on the day whether the chapel is open.

Fener and Balat

From Chora the streets fall away to the Golden Horn. Balat became the city's main Jewish quarter after 1492, when Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain settled here. Fener, next door, grew up around the Greek Orthodox community and the Ecumenical Patriarchate (source).

Look for the red-brick Greek school of 1881 to 1883 on the Fener skyline, the Ahrida Synagogue in Balat, and the cast-iron Bulgarian church of St Stephen on the shore, which was prefabricated in Vienna (source). The synagogue needs permission arranged in advance.

Both districts have stops on the T5 tram, which runs along the shore to Eminönü (source). That makes an easy exit after a downhill walk.

A route that works

1. Arrive at Edirnekapı and see the gate and Mihrimah Sultan Mosque first.
2. Walk to Chora Church (Kariye Mosque). Allow about 60 minutes inside.
3. Continue to Tekfur Palace along the walls.
4. Drop downhill through Balat, with a detour to Fethiye Mosque if you have the energy.
5. Take the T5 tram from Balat or Fener.

Time the Chora stop around the opening hours, since tourist entry pauses for prayers. The how to get there page covers the trams and buses in detail. Read the mosaics and frescoes guide before you go in, and book entry on the tickets page. If you want a guide for the whole circuit, see the guided tour page.

Further afield

Our sister guides cover the next stops on a Byzantine itinerary: Hagia Sophia and Galata Tower. For walks that link the walls, Chora and the Golden Horn with a guide, see Istanbul Tours. Our Chora and Hagia Sophia comparison explains how the two buildings differ.