Kuzguncuk

For most of its history Kuzguncuk was a Jewish, Armenian and Greek village: an 1894 count gives 7,624 people, of whom only 230 were Muslim. Wooden houses with bay windows line İcadiye Caddesi, which was once a stream crossed by small bridges. Today it is a much-loved Üsküdar neighbourhood with a community garden, a few long-standing institutions and a growing layer of new cafés.

Kuzguncuk is not unknown. Weekend crowds, wedding shoots and its TV-set fame are part of the picture. The insider value here is not a secret address but how to do it: weekday mornings, the stories behind the postcard, and respect for a place where people live.