Hi my lovely readers!

Over the weekend I decided to venture around Istanbul some more and decided to visit some of the more local and smaller sights away from the hustle and bustle of the main touristy areas around Sultan Ahmet or Taksim.

This meant I ended up heading to Küçüksu Pavilion this time located in the neighbourhood of Beykoz.

Küçüksu Pavilion is one of the smaller palaces that you can find by the Bosporus around Istanbul. Yet it’s still charming and a very popular venue for taking wedding pictures as I discovered due to the intricately detailed and ornamented facade that is facing the Bosporus.

Küçüksu Pavilion means small pavilion by the water – küçük=small and su=water. Which is a fitting name in my opinion given the size of this palace and its location by the water. 🙂

It was commissioned by Sultan Abdülmecid and completed in 1857. The palace was mainly used for recreational purposes and hunting by the Ottoman Sultans. It was even popular with Atatürk who used to visit Küçüksu Pavilion. He is known to be the founding father and first president of the Republic of Turkey.

The rooms are richly decorated with gold, lots of light pastel colours, marble of course, beautiful plaster relief ceilings and parquet floors. With a current entry cost of around £2 (40 TL) it’s a no brainer and for sure one of the cheaper attractions in Istanbul.

Sadly they don’t allow you to take pictures inside at all. It was the same with Beylerbeyi Palace I visited, which is run by the same company or agency (Milli Saraylar).

Next to Küçüksu Pavilion is a charming cafe, which I can recommend. It’s directly by the Bosporus with excellent views, tasty food and drinks at affordable prices.

They have three different seating areas – inside, outside on the terrace that is shaded and outside on a pier, where I decided to sit. From the pier you get excellent views of the palace as well as the Bosporus.

I ordered some Gözleme for lunch, which is sort of like a stuffed turnover. The stuffing can be anything from the traditional white cheese that is similar to feta, spinach or potato. The traditional version is with the white cheese though.

Along with my Gözleme I ordered a drink and was very happy watching the ships , especially the really big container ships and getting a sun tan. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

I would just like to note and make people aware, that many restaurants and coffee shops in Istanbul don’t have paper menus for some reason. They use a QR code system nowadays, which makes ordering food and drinks tricky as people don’t speak that much English I have noticed.

You have to scan the QR code that can be found eg. on the back of the napkin holders to get to and download the menu. The only problem is that you need internet for this. I have come across this now 3 times already. I’m lucky to have my boyfriend with me who speaks Turkish as otherwise I’m not sure how I would know what is available and what to order to be honest.

So this can make ordering food a bit tricky, especially for people with dietary requirements. If you’re adventurous or maybe have done some research in advance about some foods though you should be fine though, hopefully.

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• Opening times: 9 am – 6 pm, closed on Mondays
• Admission: Domestic visitors (Turks) 20 TL, Foreign visitors 40 TL
• For more information please visit: Küçüksu Pavilion
• How to get there: By car/taxi – Göksu Mah. Küçüksu Cad. No:12 Küçüksu/Beykoz. By Boat – The closest pier is Küçüksu. The palace is a short walk away.

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