Pera and Galata - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 416

We now turn back and stroll in the direction of the Galata Bridge,
passing a stretch of the medieval Genoese walls that was exposed
when the buildings around them were demolished in the 1990s.
GALATA BEDESTEN, HAN OF RÜSTEM PAŞA
A little more than halfway along the avenue between the two bridges
we come to an ancient and imposing building with nine domes. This
is the Galata Bedesten, or covered market, built by Fatih Mehmet.
A nearly square structure, its nine equal domes are supported by
four great rectangular piers, and around the outside are a series of
vaulted shops. Several authorities have claimed that this building is
seventeenth or eighteenth century; however, both the form of the
building and the masonry in brick and rubble are obviously typical
products of the fifteenth century. One has only to compare it to
the Old Bedesten in the Kapalı Çarşı, a construction of Fatih, to be
convinced that it too is from that period.
Beside the Bedesten but entered from the next turning to the
east is a handsome and unusual han. This was built by Sinan for the
Grand Vezir Rüstem Paşa shortly before 1550. The date is fixed by
Gyllius, who says that it was built on the foundations of the Latin
church of St. Michael, which still existed when he arrived in 1544,
but had been pulled down before he left to make way for the new
han. It is in two storeys with a long narrow courtyard, from the centre
of which rises a staircase leading to the upper floor, in an arrangement
as picturesque as it is unique. The lower arcade of the courtyard has
round arches, while those of the gallery above are of the ogive type.
This building has been very badly treated and is in a sad state of
dilapidation and squalor.
Leaving the han, we continue on towards the Galata Bridge; here
we might find the streets closer to the Golden Horn somewhat more
interesting than the main avenue. (Along the shore at this point there
is a ferry service of small motor-boats across the Golden Horn. This
is a very pleasant way to pass back and forth between Galata and
Stamboul and has been in use for centuries.)