Balat is a friendly neighbourhood with narrow cobbled streets and colourful houses, where hip cafés and innovative galleries sit alongside traditional neighbourhood shops.
Buildings such as the basilica of the Greek Ecumenical Patriarchate, synagogues and Byzantine churches pay homage to its cosmopolitan past as a hub of Jewish, Greek and Armenian communities.
Balat is undoubtedly Istanbul's most colourful district. A breath of fresh air to stroll through during a city break to Turkey's most fun city. In Balat, laundry simply hangs out to dry in the streets and façades have all the colours of the rainbow.
Balat is a traditional Jewish quarter found in the European part of the city. In fact, Istanbul has a European and an Asian side. Balat is on the western side of the Golden Horn, the spur of the Bosphorus that divides the city in two.
I was born in Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands, but grew up most of my life in Belgium. I currently live in Alphen where I can combine the best of the Netherlands and Belgium, both privately and in art. Both countries have produced many masters of painting.. Read more…