City guideIstanbul · Sat 31 – Sun 1 November
Istanbul this weekend: the Istanbul Marathon and Donizetti at AKM
The Istanbul Marathon over the Bosphorus Bridge, Lucia di Lammermoor and SenfoRock’s Metallica night at AKM, a Theatre Festival play in a Yeniköy church, Koç’s centenary show on Turkish industry, early Republic photographs at the Pera Museum and Malva at the Hilton.
The weekend at a glance
Choose a pick to find it on the map; scroll down for the full story.
Saturday · 31 October
Sunday · 1 November
All weekend · Saturday and Sunday
Saturday
31 October
Sat 15:00
Opera · AKM, Taksim
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at AKM
Istanbul State Opera and Ballet brings back Lucia di Lammermoor, staged by Jean-Louis Grinda, the production that opened this year’s Istanbul Opera and Ballet Festival. Donizetti’s bel canto tragedy, from Walter Scott, is famous for its mad scene.
Saturday at 15:00 in AKM’s opera hall, the last performance until 19 November; two acts, 135 minutes. Student tickets are sold only at the AKM box office.
Sat 21:00
Concert · AKM, Taksim
Metallica played by SenfoRock’s orchestra at AKM
Conductor Musa Göçmen’s SenfoRock has spent more than a decade setting rock anthems, Turkish and international, for symphony orchestra. On Saturday it gives a whole concert to Metallica, with singers and a large orchestra.
At 21:00 in AKM’s opera hall, about two hours. AKM asks concertgoers to be at the door an hour early, and no one is let in once it starts. Taksim metro is beneath the square.
Sunday
1 November
Sun 9:00Free to watch
Run · Bosphorus Bridge, Asian side
The Istanbul Marathon across the Bosphorus Bridge
The 48th Istanbul Marathon is the only one that crosses two continents, starting on the Asian side of the 15 Temmuz Şehitler Bridge and running into Europe. Alongside it are a 15.5 km race and a free 6.5 km public run; all entries are full.
The marathon starts at 9:00. The route is closed to cars from 6:00 to 15:30, Galata Bridge included, so take the metro or a ferry. Watching is free.
All weekend
Saturday and Sunday
Sat 18:00 and 20:30, Sun 18:00 and 20:302,500 TL
Theatre · Panayia Church, Yeniköy
A Dowry Agreement, a Theatre Festival play in a Yeniköy church
In Yeniköy’s Panayia Church, actors read aloud a dowry agreement written there 129 years ago: seventy Ottoman liras, twelve towels, a fur, a mirror and a chest. Nothing is re-enacted. Elif Özge Maltepe wrote it; Murat Daltaban directs.
Part of the Istanbul Theatre Festival, 70 minutes, ages 14 and up. Tickets are 2,500 TL on Passo; the church has steps and no cloakroom, and the ferry pier is 150 metres away.
Sat and Sun, 9:30–18:00550 TL, 280 TL students
Exhibition · Hasköy, Golden Horn
A show on 100 years of Turkish industry at the Rahmi M. Koç Museum
For the Koç Group’s 100th year, the Rahmi M. Koç Museum tells the story of Turkish industry since 1926 through refrigerators, washing machines, tractors and cars, archive documents, photographs and a 1/18-scale diorama of a 1990s Turkish city.
In the Mustafa V. Koç Building in Hasköy, Saturday and Sunday 9:30 to 18:00. Boat trips on the Golden Horn leave from the museum when the weather allows, 250 TL.
Sat 10:00–19:00, Sun 12:00–18:00450 TL, free under 12
Exhibition · Tepebaşı
Early Republic press photographs at the Pera Museum
Cumhuriyetin Kamera Arkası (Behind the Camera of the Republic), apt after Republic Day, shows press photographs of Istanbul from the 1920s to the early 1950s, many flawed or never printed: the poor, prisoners and street life.
Most are by Cumhuriyet’s Selahattin Giz and Namık Görgüç. Saturday 10:00 to 19:00, Sunday 12:00 to 18:00; 450 TL, 250 TL reduced. Şişhane metro is ten minutes away.
Sat and Sun
Restaurant · Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus, Harbiye
Malva, a Bodrum restaurant now at the Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus
Malva opened about five years ago in Torba, Bodrum, cooking Aegean food, and has moved into the Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus as a Turkish restaurant built on Anatolian produce. Chef Sefa Birinci’s plates include smoked barbunya with tarhana and dry-aged beef shank mantı.
Its head sommelier, Bayram Can Yaşasın, is 23. The hotel is above Maçka Park in Harbiye, near Taksim and Osmanbey metro; book through the hotel.
Saturday
Sat 15:00
Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at AKM
Istanbul State Opera and Ballet brings back Lucia di Lammermoor, staged by Jean-Louis Grinda, the production that opened this year’s Istanbul Opera and Ballet Festival. Donizetti’s bel canto tragedy, from Walter Scott, is famous for its mad scene.
Saturday at 15:00 in AKM’s opera hall, the last performance until 19 November; two acts, 135 minutes. Student tickets are sold only at the AKM box office.
Ataturk Cultural Center Sat 21:00
Metallica played by SenfoRock’s orchestra at AKM
Conductor Musa Göçmen’s SenfoRock has spent more than a decade setting rock anthems, Turkish and international, for symphony orchestra. On Saturday it gives a whole concert to Metallica, with singers and a large orchestra.
At 21:00 in AKM’s opera hall, about two hours. AKM asks concertgoers to be at the door an hour early, and no one is let in once it starts. Taksim metro is beneath the square.
Ataturk Cultural Center Sunday
Sun 9:00
The Istanbul Marathon across the Bosphorus Bridge
The 48th Istanbul Marathon is the only one that crosses two continents, starting on the Asian side of the 15 Temmuz Şehitler Bridge and running into Europe. Alongside it are a 15.5 km race and a free 6.5 km public run; all entries are full.
The marathon starts at 9:00. The route is closed to cars from 6:00 to 15:30, Galata Bridge included, so take the metro or a ferry. Watching is free.
All weekend
Sat 18:00 and 20:30, Sun 18:00 and 20:30
A Dowry Agreement, a Theatre Festival play in a Yeniköy church
In Yeniköy’s Panayia Church, actors read aloud a dowry agreement written there 129 years ago: seventy Ottoman liras, twelve towels, a fur, a mirror and a chest. Nothing is re-enacted. Elif Özge Maltepe wrote it; Murat Daltaban directs.
Part of the Istanbul Theatre Festival, 70 minutes, ages 14 and up. Tickets are 2,500 TL on Passo; the church has steps and no cloakroom, and the ferry pier is 150 metres away.
Sat and Sun, 9:30–18:00
A show on 100 years of Turkish industry at the Rahmi M. Koç Museum
For the Koç Group’s 100th year, the Rahmi M. Koç Museum tells the story of Turkish industry since 1926 through refrigerators, washing machines, tractors and cars, archive documents, photographs and a 1/18-scale diorama of a 1990s Turkish city.
In the Mustafa V. Koç Building in Hasköy, Saturday and Sunday 9:30 to 18:00. Boat trips on the Golden Horn leave from the museum when the weather allows, 250 TL.
Rahmi M. Koç Museum Sat 10:00–19:00, Sun 12:00–18:00
Early Republic press photographs at the Pera Museum
Cumhuriyetin Kamera Arkası (Behind the Camera of the Republic), apt after Republic Day, shows press photographs of Istanbul from the 1920s to the early 1950s, many flawed or never printed: the poor, prisoners and street life.
Most are by Cumhuriyet’s Selahattin Giz and Namık Görgüç. Saturday 10:00 to 19:00, Sunday 12:00 to 18:00; 450 TL, 250 TL reduced. Şişhane metro is ten minutes away.
Pera Museum Sat and Sun
Malva, a Bodrum restaurant now at the Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus
Malva opened about five years ago in Torba, Bodrum, cooking Aegean food, and has moved into the Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus as a Turkish restaurant built on Anatolian produce. Chef Sefa Birinci’s plates include smoked barbunya with tarhana and dry-aged beef shank mantı.
Its head sommelier, Bayram Can Yaşasın, is 23. The hotel is above Maçka Park in Harbiye, near Taksim and Osmanbey metro; book through the hotel.
Malva Restaurant