Balat is one of the oldest neighborhoods of Istanbul. It is located on the European side of Istanbul, in the old city on the historic peninsula, on the western bank of the Golden Horn since Byzantium. Later Spanish Jews immigrated to Ottoman Empire and settled down in Balat in 1492. For centuries Greeks, Jews and Turks lived in peace. Now it is a poor neighborhood with its houses from 18th -19th Century and begining of 20th Century.