From the Place du Taxim we may ascend the Ayas Pasha Boulevard, past the German Embassy, or from the Taxim Park the Dolma Bagtché Déré (Pl. K, 1; Dolma-garden valley), past the Ecuries Impériales, to Place Dolma Bagtché Déré. On the E. side of this square, below the suburb of that name, rises the Dolma Bagcheh Palace (pp. [558], 546), of which only the high walls with their superb gateways are seen on the inland side. The sultan repairs hither weekly in solemn procession (‘selamlik’) to Friday prayer (at noon), usually offered in the neighbouring Valideh Jami (mosque of the sultan’s mother; Pl. K, 1, 2).
We may now follow the road to the N.E. through the adjacent suburb of Beshiktash, where, opposite the steamboat pier, rises the Türbeh Kheireddin Barbarossa (p. [221]), which is best viewed from the Bosporus. Farther on are the ruins of the Chiragan Seraï (p. [558]).
From the pier of Beshiktash a road leads to the N.E. to the Yildiz Kiosque, surrounded with barracks and high walls, formerly the residence of the now deposed sultan Abdul Hamid (1876–1909). The Palace and its Park, and the private Hamidieh Mosque, built of white marble, are inaccessible.
It is now best to return by tramway (No. 2; p. [538]) to the large suburb of Top Haneh (Pl. I, 3), inhabited chiefly by Turks, with the loftily situated Jihangir Mosque (1553).
Here, in the esplanade of the Artillery Arsenal on the Bosporus, are situated the Mosque of Mahmud II. (1830) and a fine but now roofless Well House of the time of Ahmed II. (1703–30), resembling the sebíl at the Asab Kapu (p. [543]). The Mosque of Kilij Ali Pasha (Pl. I, 3) was built by Sinán (p. [552]).
We now return to Pera by the Rues Tchoukour Bostan and Yéni Tcharchi (p. [544]), or by the Grande Rue de Galata (Pl. I, H, 3, 4), the busiest international thoroughfare, to Place Karakeuï (p. [543]).
b. Stambul.
From the Rue Karakeuï, in Galata, the New Bridge (Pl. H, 4, 5) crosses the Golden Horn (p. [555]) to Stambul (toll 10 paras; carr. 2½ pias.). It was originally built of timber in 1845, and called Sultan Valideh Bridge after its founder (the ‘sultan’s mother’), and was rebuilt in 1877. The new iron bridge was begun in 1909. It affords beautiful *Views of Galata and Stambul, of the Bosporus and the Asiatic coast, while its busy and picturesque traffic presents scenes of endless variety.
At the S. end of the bridge lies the Place Emin Eunou (Pl. H, 5), called also Baluk Bazar or fish-market, beyond which rise the fine outlines of the—
*Yeni Valideh Jami (Pl. H, 5), or ‘new mosque of the sultan’s mother’. Begun in 1615 by Khoja Kassim for the mother of Ahmed I., after the model of Ahmed’s Mosque, and damaged by the great fire of 1660, it was not completed till 1663. In the middle of the outer court are ranged, as in all the larger Turkish mosques, the forecourt (harám) with its three portals, the mosque itself, and the türbeh (p. [539]), all turned towards Mecca (to the S.E.).