Üsküdar is the older and more conservative district of the Asian shore — the Chrysopolis of antiquity, one of the first Ottoman footholds in Europe, and for centuries the starting point of the caravan routes to Anatolia and the east. Today it is a dense, historically layered neighbourhood with a distinctive Ottoman skyline of mosques and the quiet intensity of a neighbourhood that functions primarily for its residents rather than its visitors.
The area around the Üsküdar ferry terminal is the commercial centre, ringed by mosques of considerable historical importance — the Atik Valide, the Şakirin, the Mihrimah Sultan (another Sinan work), and the Yeni Valide. The weekly Thursday market on Büyük Hamam Sokak is where local women shop for produce and textiles, and is a reliable window into the neighbourhood's daily life.