IN 1492 THE ANDALUSIAN Arabs were thrown out of Spain. Just like some of the Jewish people who were expelled at the same time, some of the Arabs came to Istanbul, which had been under the rule of the Islamic Ottomans since 1453, when they captured the city from the Byzantine rulers.

In 1475, Fatih Sultan Ahmed converted a church in Beyoglu to a mosque, known as the Galata Mosque. Today, this mosque, whose interior feels (but does not resemble) more like that of church, is now known as the ‘Arap Camii’ (Arab Mosque). This is because the Arabs forced to leave Andalusia settled in the area around the mosque, and used it for worship.

From the outside, the mosque could easily be mistaken for a church. This is because of its shape and what had once been a tall square bell tower. The tower is now topped with a conical feature, such as is found on the tops of most minarets. However at the Arap Camii, the conical object could be mistaken for a church steeple.

We visited this large mosque. The interior is rich in timber features, and looks as if it has been recently restored or renovated. An informative sign outside the mosque stated that when the building was repaired in 1913, Christian gravestones commemorating the deaths of people from Genoa (Italy) were discovered, and placed in a museum of archaeology.

We would have been unlikely to have visited this interesting mosque had we not taken a wrong turning. As the saying goes ‘every cloud has a silver lining ‘.