Along the Golden Horn - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 314

mansion in 1686. The Metochion is now abandoned and is rapidly
falling into ruins.
Just beyond the Archimandrite's mansion, a gateway leads us into
the courtyard of the church of St. John the Baptist, the chapel of
the monastery which was once part of the Metochion. The church
is probably of Byzantine foundation, but it has been burned down
and reconstructed several times and the present structure dates only
from 1830 . It is of no interest except for its connection with the
Metochion of Mount Sinai.
BALAT
About 150 metres beyond the church we come to Balat Kapısı, the
site of another of the Byzantine sea-gates along the Golden Horn, of
which nothing now remains. This has been identified variously as the
Gate of the Kynegos (Hunter) or that of the Prodromos (St. John the
Baptist). The Turkish name Balat is a corruption of the Greek Palation,
or Palace, so called because of the Byzantine Palace of Blachernae
which stood nearby. Although the gate has now disappeared, its
name survives in that of the surrounding quarter, the picturesque and
venerable Balat. Balat has been for many centuries one of the principal
Jewish quarters of the city. Many of these were Greek-speaking Jews
who lived here in Byzantine times, but these were later absorbed by
the Sephardic Jews who emigrated from Spain in 1492 and took up
residence in the Ottoman Empire on the invitation of Beyazit II.
There are still half a dozen ancient synagogues in the quarter, one
of them dating in foundation from Byzantine times, although most
of the present structures date from no earlier than the first half of
the nineteenth century. Although much of the Jewish community
has now moved to more modern neighbourhoods of Istanbul or
emigrated to Israel, some still remain in their old quarter in Balat,
continuing to speak the medieval Ladino which they brought with
them from Spain more than five centuries ago.
There are a few monuments of some minor interest in the
immediate neighbourhood of Balat Kapısı. The first of these
monuments is found in the second street in from the highway along
the Golden Horn and somewhat to the left of the gate. (Although the