Although it has become cooler all of a sudden, it’s high time to tour Istiklal Avenue. You still have time to blend into the crowd of the city, listen to street musicians, look at the beautiful garments in shop windows, and experience the Avenue in the shade of historical buildings before the rains start.

You also walk from Taksim Square to Galatasaray High School together with the crowd in Beyoğlu. Then, keep walking towards Tunnel, though everybody turns back. It is impossible for you to miss Narmanlı Inn glittering in its renovated form on the right hand side while approaching Tunnel.

This historical place, which was full of cats and seemed as if it was out of this world with its lush green garden a few years ago, looks like as if it has been constructed all over again after its restoration. Leave aside the much-debated restoration process, and let us tell you about the history of this beautiful building.

Narmanlı Inn is one of the most interesting buildings of Beyoğlu once called Pera by foreigners in Istanbul. It was built by Italian architect Giuseppe Fossati as Russian Embassy Building in 1831.

The Embassy Building, in which the Russian Tsardom project of access to warm waters had been shaped for 50 years, was used as the Russian Jail from 1880 to 1914. When the World War One broke out and the Ottoman State and Russia waged war to each other on different fronts, the building was put up for sale, and Narmanlı Family bought it.

Then began the most vivacious years of Narmanlı Inn. In the building that was called Narmanlı Hostel in later years, numerous artists, poets, writers, notably Aliye Berger, Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, lived and created their works with its inspiration.

In the 90s, the teahouse in the courtyard of the building, on which the impacts of the past time were rather clear, was frequented by the youth and mostly the cats.

Although the trees in it have been uprooted and its courtyard has been paved with asphalt, Narmanlı Inn that has set on its feet after the restoration is now more interesting with the statues paying tribute to the artists who lived there previously.

Then, you also set out for Istiklal to see Narmanlı Inn before autumn gives way to winter. Who knows? Maybe this beautiful corner of the city gives you an inspiration that will give color to your life, just like those who lived there previously.