The camera lens is changed as places, and the forgotten corners turned into destinations for cinema and television lovers. How much from a teacher in Istanbul has gained a new life after he starred on the screen, and how much from a passing street has become a famous shrine thanks to an influential scene or a snapshot!
In Istanbul, the present does not call on the steps of the visitor, but rather it is called by firm stories in the conscience, a pavement that is frequently chased for a plowing chase, his shortness of lighting is a love story that crossed the continents, and a minor minaret immortalized her a lightning shot.
Istanbul films and series were made more than just a city that is visited; She made a collective memory from it that millions of lovers yearn for passing, walking in the footsteps of their favorite heroes. Lives like tiles, palaces on the Bosphorus, and vibrant markets, bearing between their walls the shadows of scenes and echoes of the stories.
Because cinema and television have established the features of this city in human conscience, photography sites have become a feature of visitors, not just because of its beauty but to restore a scene, or to take a picture in the place they loved the first time on the screen.
Villa “Forbidden Love”
At quiet Bosphorus curves, near the upscale Beipbe neighborhood, a white villa surrounded by a fence of dense trees overlooks. For years, this villa remained an ordinary family home, embracing the walls of the sea and the serenity of the looked. But when the lens of the series “Forbidden Love” fell on it, the fate of the place changed, and turned into one of the most famous features of the Turkish drama.
Among the walls of this villa, a burning love story and a family tragedy that shook the hearts of viewers. The villa has become linked to the family of the Zajil family, which the audience of the series loved and continued the details of her life with passion, and with the tremendous success achieved by the work, this place is no longer just a photo site, but rather a station that visitors intended to recover the moments of the emotional drama that were immortalized between his corridors.
Today, tourist phrases pass slowly in front of the villa, and visitors are keen to take pictures, and the whispers are scattered between passengers as they remember the scenes of Muhannad and Samar.
To take advantage of the fame that the place harvested, the Koch family turned the villa in 2018 into a small museum for the traditional Turkish carpet, and it combined the originality of heritage with the magic of drama under one roof.
The villa is located in the Surir region, north of Istanbul, and can be reached by car across the winding coastal road on the European West Bank, or via a cruise to the port of Sarire, followed by a short walk on foot.
“Nour and Muhannad Palace”
On the banks of the Bosphorus on the Asian side of the city, a luxurious historical palace in the Qandili neighborhood sits his white balconies as if it embraces the water. This wonderful edifice has become known to the audience as “Palace of Nour and Muhannad”, in relation to the romantic series that was filmed between its walls and bears the name of his hero Nour and Muhannad.
The series “Nour” (broadcast on Arab channels in the year 2008) was the first work that establishes the love of the Arab audience for Turkish drama, and the spark that prompted many Arabs to discover Istanbul closely.
The palace embraced the scenes of the dreamer love story between Nour and Muhannad in an atmosphere of Bosphorian luxury, leaving a special imprint in the memory of everyone who followed these episodes.
The palace originally carries the name “Abboud Effendi”, and was built in the middle of the nineteenth century, with the signature of the famous Ottoman engineer, Balian, who carried to this place the spirit of the Ottoman luxury that the eye does not make mistakes. Although the palace is a private property closed and does not receive visitors, its vision from the sea is leaving an impact of no less than entering it, especially for those who knew it first through the scenes of the series.
Take pictures
After the series was shown, this palace became a basic station on the table of tourists coming from the Middle East. The visitors became wondering about his location and keen to see him, to the extent that with the ships of the tourist Bosphorus, it was stopping in the waters of Qandili, to point the guide to the palace and allow the passengers to take pictures and restore the memories of the series.
There are many roads to reach Qandili, but the journey through the Bosphorus water remains the most beautiful. From the Askudar neighborhood on the Asian side of Istanbul, the coastal road extends to the strait, until the palace reveals its unique calm, as it stands between water and the sky, a guard for a story that is still alive in memory.
“Al Hafra” neighborhood
In the historic heart of Istanbul, and on the banks of the Golden Horn, the ancient Balat neighborhood is located with its winding alleys and its colored homes.
This neighborhood has always been known for its authentic popular character and its atmosphere that mixes the fragrance of the past with simple daily life, but in recent years its name has been associated with a new title, the “Harra neighborhood”. After filming the series of excitement and the Turkish crime “çukur” in its alleys, the tiles of tiles gained special fame, and became a tourist attraction for drama lovers.
The neighborhood has turned into something similar to an open museum to evoke the details of the series: on the walls the writings and slogans of the gang that appeared in the scenes, and the popular café that was the meeting place of the “hole” characters, it receives curious visitors who want to drink tea on the same seats that the heroes of the story sat.
Thanks to the great success achieved by the series in Türkiye and the Arab world, the Balat neighborhood has become filled with visitors looking for the experience of the “hole” atmosphere on the ground.
Permits and battles
Here, the visitor can wander around the same alleys that witnessed dramatic chases and battles, and passes under the halves of washing suspended between the balconies, which added to the scenes its distinctive real character.
Despite the title of the new “hole”, this place is in fact part of the Balat neighborhood within the Al -Fateh area inside the ancient walls of Istanbul, near the Ayoub Sultan Mosque.
Access to the Balat neighborhood is a relatively easy; The visitor can ride a bus from the Aminono area towards Ayoub and go down at Balat, then walk towards Al -Sabeel Street, following the colorful writings on the walls, until he finds himself in the atmosphere of the “hole”. There, between the ancient alleys, one will feel like a part of the scene as the real life around it goes on in a unique mixture between drama and reality.
“Artegral Resurrection”
At the outskirts of Northern Istanbul, a quiet land extends that embraces one of the most present TV tales in memory. Near the village of Riva, an integrated city was built to be a theater for the “Artegral Resurrection”, the series that redraw the features of history and the families of the hearts of millions.
Here, between the vast promoters, the erected tents and the wooden markets, a strange feeling to the visitor sneaks to the visitor, as if it was crossing a hidden gate to the thirteenth century.
Training arenas, monitoring towers, fighting fields, every corner bearing the effects of the feet of characters written by the scenes and followed them with passion. The place does not seem just a photo studio, but rather a living city that beats the lives of the Kayi tribes, and the dreams of the first warriors.
The site did not lose the end of the end of the filming of the series “Artgrel”, but his pulse increased with the completion of the scenes of the series “Founder Othman”, as if the spirit of the old hero is still hesitating between tents and squares.
This site has turned into a destination for visitors, not just to watch, but to have a full experience; From roaming between wood and blacksmithing markets, to taste dishes inspired by Ottoman recipes that are rooted in time.
This site in the village of Riva is one of the largest television production sites in Europe, and is opened to visitors in daily organized tours. The village is about an hour from Istanbul by car, but the distance fades in front of the pleasure of walking between details made when it was similar to life as it was centuries ago.
The big bazaar
Under stone domes, the pods are successful, and in the midst of alleys that break between the shops of gold and spices, the large bazaar in Istanbul beats with an unprecedented life. Here, in this ancient market that dates back to the fifteenth century, the city beats its history, smells and mixed voices. Each corridor has the effects of the feet of merchants and transient, and every angle that hides a story from a long time.
But history alone is no longer enough to draw the features of this place. One day, the cameras swept the market and made its narrow surfaces and antique domes a scented adventure.
“Sky Vol”
At the beginnings of the movie “Sky Fall”, James Bond rushed his fiery bombing over the bazaar tiles and high brackets, jumping from one dome to another, transcending time and crowds in the spirit of adventure. Hollywood was then mixed with the spirit of Eastern Istanbul, so that the market became an unforgettable cinematic scene.
This famous chase was not the only appearance of the large bazaar and its surroundings. In the action movie “Tech 2” by actor Liam Neeson, the cars roamed the streets of the neighboring neighborhood of Aminono, rushed through narrow corners near the Yeni Jami mosque, and its way was in the crowd in a scene in which breaths imprisoned.
After these scenes, the alleys of the big bazaar are no longer just a crossing for shoppers, but rather turned into an area where the east trade is mixed with the excitement of cinema.
After the scenes of the movie “Sky Fall” by James Bond and “Technic 2” for Name Nesson, the large bazaar alleys are no longer just a crossing for shoppers, but rather turned into an area where the east trade is mixed with the excitement of cinema.
Today, the visitor stands in the large bazaar and raised his head towards the old domes, imagining that James Bond remained flying over him with his bike, or walking at a careful pace between the crowds, remembering the feverish escape that was filmed by the cameras years ago.
The bazaar is located in the heart of the Sultan Ahmed area, available to everyone who reaches the old city, whether through the tram that stops at the Bayezid station, or on foot from the Hagia Sophia Mosque and the Egyptian market.