Rüstem Paşa Mosque

Nearly every surface inside is covered — piers, spandrels, the mihrab wall, the galleries — in İznik panels from the workshops' best period. The colours to look for are the deep cobalt, the turquoise, and above all the raised tomato-red slip that İznik potters achieved for only a few decades in the sixteenth century and never reproduced afterwards.

The Blue Mosque, fifty years later and far larger, uses tile as decoration in the upper galleries where you cannot see it clearly. Here it is at eye level and it is the building. That inversion is why people who know the city send visitors up this staircase rather than across the park.

The mosque is built on a raised terrace above a row of shops, which is why you can stand directly beneath it and see nothing. From Hasırcılar Caddesi — the busy shopping street running west from the Spice Bazaar — look for an unmarked arched doorway between shopfronts, with a flight of stone stairs behind it. There is more than one entrance; any of them gets you to the courtyard.

Because it is a working neighbourhood mosque rather than a monument, there is no ticket desk, no queue and no signage in English. Take your shoes off at the door like everyone else.