It was a rainy afternoon when I took a walk through Fener, a district just to the north of the university running up the golden horn.
Four-years ago I stayed in a small guesthouse across the street from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, a small church surrounded by mosque and a quite conservative Muslim neighborhood. The church is in fact the worldwide headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Church. Note the wire and high walls
Fener is a very old part of the city once a wealthy Greek settlement
It has in the past decades fallen to decay, though lovely architecture.
I learned after my walk and seeing the changes since my visit four years earlier. That the renovations happening have now slowed; the government has stopped the sale of any of these structures to foreigners.
