Havra Sokağı

About Havra Sokağı

Havra Sokağı (Synagogue Street) is a narrow, busy market street inside the historic Kemeraltı bazaar, best known today for its stalls of fish, olives, cheese and delicatessen goods. İzmir Metropolitan Municipality calls it one of the city's most important shopping places and has run an improvement programme for its infrastructure, awnings, lighting and façades. The street was the heart of İzmir's Jewish quarter, the Juderia. According to Visit İzmir, Sephardic Jews who had left Spain and Portugal in the 1490s settled in the city from the 16th century, later joined by communities from Salonica, Istanbul, the Balkans, Italy and Eastern Europe, and they lived around this street because of their customs and faith. The synagogues that gave it its name still stand, mostly hidden behind high walls in small courtyards. In the late 19th century Havra Sokağı was a leading centre of rakı production with many taverns, and an 1888 trade directory lists a Turkish bath, a Greek pharmacy and Greek and Jewish wine shops here. It was officially renamed Türk Pazarı Sokak in the early Republic, but the old name stuck. Good to know: come in the morning for the liveliest market atmosphere, and combine it with the nearby Kızlarağası Hanı and the rest of Kemeraltı.