In fulfillment of traditional guild regulations dating back to the Middle Ages, journeymen of the German lands had to take to the road and practice the professional skills acquired during apprenticeship elsewhere before being able to take the examination for master of their craft, which would allow them to settle and exercise their chosen profession. New means of transportation and the profound political changes and economic crises in central Europe in the nineteenth century put once unreachable destinations on the map for young journeymen after finishing their apprenticeships. A trove of hardly known ego documents, or life narratives, on nineteenth century Istanbul has been preserved in private archives or as print editions of often minuscule circulation numbers that were produced by small local publishers throughout the German-speaking world. Forming part of a genre of texts by the “sons and daughters“ of a particular town or region that were and continue to be published primarily as a contribution to local history writing (Heimatgeschichte), narrative accounts of far-away places such as the Ottoman capital had a special appeal to publishers and readers alike for their air of adventure and exoticism. By drawing on half a dozen virtually unknown printed diaries, letters, and other life narratives preserved in private archives in Istanbul and Germany, this contribution affords new insights into the daily life of nineteenth century Istanbul from the viewpoint of foreign short-term residents, some of whom would eventually opt to stay on as new immigrants to the Ottoman lands. While their special skills and training gave some of the Central European journeymen privileged access even to the exclusive realm of the Ottoman court household where they found employment, their accounts offer a fresh look on the social realities of Istanbul residents of different walks of life. Towards the end of the Ottoman Empire this caleidoscope was further enriched by the growing body of an international blue-collar workforce in the Ottoman capital, which the German-speaking journeymen’s life narratives illustrate.