Bilgin's Blog | A Rough Guide to "Bagdat Avenue"

Home

Dreamland
       Articles
          Cesaria Evora
          Journey to Gruyeres
          Winter day's bike
          Biking Lake Leman
          Portuguese and Turks
       Bilgin's Art Gallery

Retrospective
       Melek Kobra
       Rembetika - Songs of Unspoken Sorrow

Now & Future
       Now & Future | Articles
          Dark Matter
          Cyprus - Divided Forever?
          For Hrant Dink
       My Country, Turkey
          Wine in Turkey
          A Rough Guide to Bagdat Avenue

Bits & Bytes
       eptaxia
       Volcano Island
       Gaming Through My Life
       As a Man Thinketh
       Articles
          IsNumeric
          From Dictionary to ComboBox
          DAYS360 Function
          Crumpler Notebook Bag
          Quit Watch
       Kalman Filter for Dummies
       Some Techno Tips
       My PhD Journal
          Background Information on Age Estimation
          My Work on Age Estimation
          Hollywood Database

About
       About Me
       My Life in Pictures

Bagdat Avenue (Bağdat Caddesi)

Bagdat Avenue (Bagdat Caddesi) is one of the most popular locations for Istanbul's lifestyle and cultural life. The street lies between Kadikoy and Bostanci (Asian part of Istanbul). This area is one of the most prosperous districts of Istanbul and also Turkey. The locals often call it "Cadde" (which means "street" or "avenue" in Turkish).

Besides hosting the most popular shops, there are also lots of popular restaurants, bars, cafes and cultural interest points all around the vicinity.

A lively Sunday afternoon at Saskinbakkal

Today there are countless modern shopping malls all around the city, which are almost always tasteless and claustrophobic. But shopping and walking around Bagdat Caddesi, has always been and still is absolute enjoyment. I've been living around "Cadde" till 1983, and I always find another interesting detail each time I go out on the street.

	Baghdad Avenue

Where's Baghdad Avenue? Why is it called so?

Baghdad Street starts from Kadikoy and goes up to Maltepe. This street took its name because, this road was the starting point to the way to Baghdad. At the times of Ottoman Empire, Baghdad was one of the major cities of the Empire. Also, the name Baghdad is used to symbolize a huge distant.

The street is almost parallel to the railway. This railway was constructed in 19^th century, and the route was called "Istanbul-Baghdad railway".

Baghdad Avenue was the main motorway from Istanbul to Ankara, till 1970s. Now the street is a popular shopping and social center for upper class of Istanbul.

The Oldest Shops on The Street

Unfortunately, Bagdat Avenue is not a place that keeps the old values for a long time. There's a great amount of circulation in small businesses and shops on the street. It's very hard to find a shop older than 20 years because of the ridiculously high rental values.

One example of the traditional places on the street is Divan Pub. Divan Pub belongs to Koc Group, which also runs many businesses including automotive, electronics, and home appliances (such as Beko). So I think they can keep this location for a long time.

And there are some textile and fashion shops such as Desa, Misirli, Hayko, Erol. I hope they can survive the high rents and serve us for a long time.

	Icons

There are a couple of things that you can solely find on Bagdat Avenue, and also there are some other things that you rarely see in another place.

For example, Feride Geçidi (Feride Crossing).

	Bagdat Avenue in History


BagdatAvenue around 1940s. You can notice the tram on the street.	Bostanci port around 1960s.	Goztepe train station around 1960s

Bostanci train station around 1950s	Suadiye public beach around 1940s

About \| Affiliate Program \| Sitemap \| FAQ's	Privacy Statement \| Terms Of Use
Wine in Turkey \| A Rough Guide to Bagdat Avenue	Copyright 2009 by Bilgin Esme