Vefa and Zeyrek sit a few hundred metres west of Süleymaniye, in the slip of streets that everyone walking the historic peninsula manages to skirt. The walk through them is short, quiet, and dense with buildings most guides forget to mention: a Sinan apprentice mosque, two converted Byzantine churches, a boza shop the same family has run since 1876.
Three kilometres, an afternoon, no climb to speak of. Start at Vezneciler metro and walk west to Şehzade Camii — Sinan's first imperial commission in 1548, the warm-up for Süleymaniye. Then Kalenderhane Camii, a twelfth-century Byzantine church converted to a mosque, almost no tourist inside. Frescoes survive in the nave.
The bozacı is next. Vefa Bozacısı opens onto a corner exactly as it has since 1876 — order a glass with chickpeas and cinnamon, the way it's served. In winter you'll be standing with locals doing the same.
End at Zeyrek Camii — the former Pantokrator Monastery, UNESCO World Heritage, the largest Byzantine religious building in the city after Hagia Sophia. The Cibali T5 tram is five minutes downhill.
