Kabasakal Sokak, Sultanahmet

Kabasakal Sokak (“Street of the Bushy Beard”), sometimes called Kabasakal Caddesi, is a short street with only one hotel: Istanbul‘s renowned Yesil Ev (Green House).

The street is closed to traffic in front of the Yesil Ev inn, keeping it quiet.

Next door to the inn is the Istanbul Handicrafts Market(Istanbul El Sanatlari Çarsisi), set up in the restored Cedid Mehmet Efendi Medresesi, an 18th-century Islamic theological seminary.

Behind the inn is its peaceful garden restaurant, an excellent choice for lunch or dinner in good weather.

Across the street from the Yesil Ev is a shady tea garden and the Baths of Lady Hürrem (1556), now a carpet shop operated by a government cooperative. Unfortunately, the baths block the view from the Yesil Ev of the park.

Beyond the baths is the flowered park with fountain that separates Ayasofya from the Blue Mosque, with the Hippodrometo the northwest (see map below).