Nisantasi is the place where you can find all brands, Turkish boutiques, nice cafes, restaurants and bars. It carries on to be both luxurious residential area with heavy traffic, activity, crowds and shopping place with luxurious shops, galleries, restaurants and elegant shop windows.

Nisantasi is an elite shopping district today. Also it is home for many famous creative types as and affluent, secular residential area. This area forms to several novels by Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk. He was the local resident of Nisantasi. It has the one of the largest community of foreign residents in Istanbul.

History

Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid I had settled this district in 1850s. He had erected to Obelisks to notify the beginning and ending points of quarter.

The Nisantasi means “Aiming Stone” in Turkish. During Ottoman period, Sultans had used these obelisks as arching points . They are like small obelisks and have Ottoman Inscriptions on them. Some of them are still standing in Nisantasi District.

During the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), Lots of Turks had migrated from Makedonia especially from Thessaloniki and settled here. Also Famous Turkish Poet Nazim Hikmet was one of these migrants too.

Nisantasi was a district where the Sultans had been coming for hunting and shooting practice during the Ottoman period. They had settled some stones for shooting practice and it got the name from those stones. After the sultan Selim III had offered to set first stone in the place of existing Tesvikiye Mosque, also he had offered to build up a small mosque in 1791. After the second period of 19^th century, it had grown up within developing style. Because of moving of Sultans from Dolmabahce Palace to Yıldız Palace and visiting of dynasty members to Nisantasi, it got very popular for rich people.

It was a villa district until 1930 and then became an area of luxury apartment buildings. Especially, it became a residential area for rich people. After 1970s, by losing importance of Istiklal Street, famous luxurious shops have been moved to Nisantasi.

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Around of Republican Monument in Taksim Square has been used as a Ceremonial Square during the National Feasts and also is the main meeting point for tourist and natives. Republican Monument inaugurated in 1928 and commemorates the formation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, following the Turkish War of Independence. The Nostalgic Tram runs from Taksim Square to along the avenue, ending near Tunnel (Tunel),1875. It is second oldest subway line of the world after London’s Underground (1863). Around the Taksim Square, There are numerous hotels, restaurants, pubs, and international fast food chains like Pizza Hut and others.

It is also a favorite location for public events such as parades, New Year Celebrations or other social gatherings.

 Istiklal Street (Independence Avenue)

Istiklal Street (Independence Avenue) is a long pedestrian shopping street which starts from near Tunnel to Taksim Square.

Taksim square and around it also are the huge center of culture, night life and shopping. It has numerous shops, cinemas, theatres, art studios, exhibition halls, bars, discos, cafes. Especially, it is so dynamic with crowds 24 hours a day at the weekends. The buffets at the entrance of Istiklal Street are open along the day. Istiklal Street and around it carry on positive and negative specialties as heretofore. And it carries the specialty as unexceptional most cosmopolitan area of Turkey. The street is like a huge shopping center with the brands name which is very famous all over the world and local boutiques. I advise my guests all the time to go there for buying the local shoes. It is one of the main things to buy. For the shoes, international brand names like adidas, lacoste, or others can be more expensive than the western countries. But everybody must see the local products which you can find really good quality with reasonable prices.

Cukurcuma

Cukurcuma is one of the districts where to find the antiques in Beyoglu. Beyoglu is a district where controls Cukurcuma, Taksim and other locations. Spend an afternoon in Cukurcuma where the antiques and neon rock-n-roll signs mix with sultan signed candelabras and mirrors lined with fading starlets. The area was once home to a large Greek community where is an old flea market in upscale café and gallery district. A lot of shop owners are descendents of non-Turkish residents whose families have inhabited the area for centuries. It is hosting over 150 antique shops. Some of the shops are bursting with Ottoman Period odds and ends and Turkish cultural memorabilia. Beside them, there are avant-garde art workshops and high fashion boutiques. Upon closer inspection, daring young designers are uniquely Turkish and have been creating a space, a chic, that is all their own. The antique legacy of the area shares the same snaky streets with the up- and-comers, revealing antique treasures and odd collectibles.

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