We start the day visiting the Ahrida Synagogue, (recently renovated, it has a wooden Torah ark, decorated in floral and geometric patterns of inlaid mother-of-pearl. The platform where the Torah is read is shaped like a ship, a reminder of the ship that carried the congregants from Spain, another legend states that this is a part of Noah’s ark); down the street is the Yambol Synagogue, named for Spanish Jews who made their way to Istanbul via Yambol, Bulgaria. The dome has frescoes of idealized scenes of Yambol.

This will be followed by a drive along the Golden Horn stopping to see buildings along that road in the Balat District with Jewish background. After lunch we cover the Galata area, then visit the magnificent Neve Shalom Synagogoue which was originally the First Jewish Primary School for boys and girls, and was converted in to a Synagogue in 1938.

We end our day visiting the Jewish Cemetery and the Jewish Hospital which was established in 1858 to treat the poor sick in the predominantly Jewish neighborhoods of Balat and Hasköy.