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A Day in Eyüpsultan at the Head of the Golden Horn
Cultural

A Day in Eyüpsultan at the Head of the Golden Horn

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At the inner end of the Golden Horn, outside the city walls, Eyüp is one of the oldest Ottoman districts of Istanbul. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam describes it as the first town to take shape outside the walls after the conquest.

Eyüpsultan, İstanbul
Cultural
Radar Editör
September 24, 2026

About Trip

At the inner end of the Golden Horn, outside the city walls, Eyüp is one of the oldest Ottoman districts of Istanbul. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam describes it as the first town to take shape outside the walls after the conquest. Most visitors come only to see the mosque or to climb to the view on the hill, yet the district also has a small but daring complex by Sinan, historic cemeteries spreading over the slope, an old pier on the Golden Horn and a toy-making tradition that delighted children for centuries. This outing takes you through Eyüpsultan from the mosque to the hilltop on an unhurried day's walk.

Getting there

The most enjoyable way to reach Eyüp is the Golden Horn ferry. According to Şehir Hatları, Eyüp Pier was the innermost stop on the Golden Horn line, if you leave out Kağıthane. The pier on its wooden piles was rebuilt as a single-storey, timber-clad building under the Golden Horn Green Space Project that began in 1989; when silting closed it to ferries for a while in 1991, the channel was dredged and it reopened on 2 November 1998. Check sailing times on the Şehir Hatları website. If you come by land, get off at the Eyüpsultan Teleferik stop on the Eminönü to Alibeyköy tram line; according to Wikipedia, tram, cable car, buses and ferry all meet at the same interchange here.

The name and the founding of the district

According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, in the Byzantine period this shore was an unimportant settlement outside the walls, in an area of cemeteries. After the conquest the district took its name from Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, standard-bearer of the Prophet Muhammad. According to the encyclopedia, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari took part in the Umayyad siege of 669, fell ill and died during it, and was held to have been buried, at his own wish, at the furthest point the army could reach. Immediately after the conquest a tomb was built over the grave, with a mosque and a madrasa beside it. Wikipedia states that the complex was built by Mehmed II in 1458.

The encyclopedia relates that Mehmed the Conqueror settled people brought from the Bursa region here and that settlement was encouraged through charitable foundations. The historian Tursun Bey wrote that people built houses and pavilions around the complex and that it was a pleasant town for outings. In time Eyüp became the seat of a large judicial district whose bounds reached as far as Çatalca, Büyükçekmece, Küçükçekmece and Silivri.

Eyüp Sultan Mosque

The mosque you see today was rebuilt on its old site. According to Wikipedia, by the end of the eighteenth century the mosque had fallen into ruin, probably because of an earthquake; in 1798 Selim III had everything except the minarets pulled down and rebuilt, and the work was completed on 7 July 1800. The eastern minaret was rebuilt in its original style in the 1820s under Mahmud II. Despite its late date, the mosque stays faithful to classical Ottoman architecture; with its central dome surrounded by half-domes it is compared to Sinan's Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque at Azapkapı. Most of its decoration, however, is in the Ottoman baroque style of its time. The entrance doors, the mihrab and the minbar of the white stone building are counted among the finest examples of that style.

Notice the layout as you enter. According to Wikipedia, a large, irregularly shaped outer courtyard opens onto a rectangular inner courtyard. A raised, covered passage running along the south side of the outer courtyard was originally the sultan's private entrance to the mosque. The inner courtyard leads on one side to the mosque and on the other to the tomb of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam writes that sultans gained legitimacy after their accession through the ceremony of girding the sword, and that after this ceremony they visited the tombs of their ancestors, starting from Eyüp; for this reason the mosque held special importance for the Ottoman dynasty too.

The mosque is still visited in great numbers every day; according to TDV, visits increase sharply during Ramadan, the religious holidays and other holy days. Choose a time outside prayer hours, wear clothing that covers shoulders and knees, women should cover their hair, take your shoes off at the entrance and keep quiet inside. Enter the tomb with the same care; it is the most sensitive spot in the district.

Sinan's small complex on the slope

South of Eyüp square, at the entrance to the district, stands the Zal Mahmud Pasha Complex. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, the vizier Zal Mahmud Pasha and his wife Şah Sultan, daughter of Selim II, commissioned it from Mimar Sinan. The mosque is thought to have been completed in 1580, and work on the madrasas continued until 1582. The complex is laid out on two levels on sloping ground: the mosque and one madrasa on the upper level, the tomb, the other madrasa and the fountain on the lower.

The encyclopedia stresses that Sinan chose a different approach here. It explains that the mosque, set on the edge of a slope by the Golden Horn at the entrance to Eyüp, was designed as a cubic mass so that it would catch the eye at first glance. Walls of alternating stone and brick give movement to the façade. Inside, the mihrab is framed with İznik tiles of the period, whose design and technical quality, according to the encyclopedia, are of a very high order. The stone minbar praised by Evliya Çelebi is also worth a look. The earthquake of 1894 brought down the minaret and some vaults, and the complex reopened for worship in 1963 after repairs that began in 1955. The octagonal tomb in the lower courtyard holds the wooden cenotaphs of Zal Mahmud Pasha and Şah Sultan.

This area has another story, too, connected with clay. TDV, drawing on Evliya Çelebi, relates that some 250 potters worked beyond the Zal Mahmud Pasha Mosque and that clay was brought from Kağıthane and Sarıyer for the pots and dishes made here.

The story of the Toymakers' Market

Eyüp's most charming tradition is toy-making. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam writes that the custom of taking boys, dressed in special clothes before their circumcision, to visit the tomb of Eyüp Sultan led to the growth of toy-making here. According to Evliya Çelebi, in the mid-seventeenth century Eyüp had 100 toy shops with 105 master craftsmen. The shops stood in the Toymakers' Market on İskele Caddesi, the street leading to the tomb; by the early nineteenth century their number had fallen to twenty-five or thirty.

The Wikipedia article on Eyüp toy-making also explains how the toys were made. The masters worked in workshops at the back of their shops and sold at the front. Their raw materials were the scraps of the surrounding districts: wood offcuts from Tahtakale, the stovemakers' leftover tin, leather and gut from the Sütlüce slaughterhouse, and clay carried down by the Kağıthane and Alibeyköy streams. Earth pigments and yellow gilt were used with bright colours such as red, blue, green and white. Wooden spinning tops, rattles, whistles, darbukas and drums, pinwheels, roly-polies, wooden carts and boats, cradles, wooden swords and tambourines all came out of this market.

The market no longer exists. According to the same source, Eyüp's toymakers could not compete in the nineteenth century with the toys sold in the shops of Pera, and the opening of Eyüp Boulevard in 1957 swept the Toymakers' Market away. The 28 surviving Eyüp toys are in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality collection and are not on display. In 2021 the tradition was added to Turkey's National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Remembering, as you walk from the pier towards the mosque, that this way was once lined with toy shops gives the walk another meaning. TDV also notes that a flower market was held in the Toymakers' Market every Friday and that Evliya Çelebi praised Eyüp's yoghurt and clotted cream.

Pierre Loti Hill and the cable car

Behind the mosque, above the cemeteries spreading over the slope, rises Pierre Loti Hill. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam describes Eyüp's cemeteries as among the largest necropolises of the Islamic world; with its tombs, small graveyards and open-air tombs, the district has become something like a museum of architecture. You can climb to the hilltop on foot through the cemetery or take the cable car. According to Wikipedia, the cable car line between Eyüp and Pierre Loti opened on 1 November 2005; its 420-metre route climbs 53 metres in under three minutes.

The hill takes its name from the French writer Pierre Loti. According to Wikipedia, the writer, whose real name was Julien Viaud, came to Istanbul in 1876 and often visited a coffee house on this hill. TDV writes that this coffee house, on top of Karyağdı Bayırı at a point overlooking the end of the Golden Horn and taking in the whole Golden Horn, Istanbul and Galata, was made famous by Pierre Loti in the 1880s. From the top, both shores of the Golden Horn and its bridges stretch out in a single line, and you see the streets and the mosque you walked through, this time from above.

Along the Golden Horn

On the way back, go down to the shore. According to TDV, Eyüp's boat landing was one of the largest on the Golden Horn. In the nineteenth century the Yavedud, Çamur, Defterdar, Zal Mahmud Paşa, Eyüp, Bostan and Yalıhamamı landings lined the shore between Ayvansaray and Bahariye. A register from 1801 to 1802 lists ninety-three boats and ninety-seven boatmen registered at the Eyüp landing. The same source records that in the seventeenth century large red mullet and gobies were caught here, as were shrimps. Walking through the green spaces along the shore today, you can picture that busy boat traffic.

Suggested walk

Arrive by ferry at Eyüp Pier and first walk south to the Zal Mahmud Pasha Complex at the entrance to the district. Then return to the square and explore the Eyüp Sultan Mosque and its courtyard. Next, climb to Pierre Loti Hill on foot along the cemetery slope behind the mosque or by cable car, and after taking in the view ride the cable car down. End the day on the shore around the pier; for the return you can use the ferry or the tram. At a brisk pace the outing takes half a day; if you prefer not to rush, set aside a whole day.

Season and time of day

At Friday midday prayers, during Ramadan and on religious holidays the mosque and square are very crowded; for a quiet visit choose a weekday morning. If you go up Pierre Loti Hill late in the afternoon, you will see the evening light over the Golden Horn. The cemetery path can be hot in summer and slippery in the rain; the cable car is a good option then.

Practical notes

  • Visit the mosque and the tomb outside prayer times, in suitable clothing and quietly.
  • In the cemetery, stay on the paths and do not step or sit on gravestones.
  • Check cable car and ferry times on the official websites.
  • The streets get crowded on busy days; keep an eye on your belongings.

Sources

Location - A Day in Eyüpsultan at the Head of the Golden Horn

Trip Info
CityEyüpsultan, İstanbul
TypeCultural
DateSeptember 24, 2026
SourceRadar Editör
Radar TürkiyeAuthorRadar TürkiyeVisit SourceGet Directions