Great Current: From Bebek to Arnavutköy

1. 01
   Nature

   Sit in the Sultan’s Garden

   Relax in Bebek Park, where people now sit on the grass in what was once the private garden of the Hümâyûnâbâd Pavilion. The pavilion was founded in the 16th century, rebuilt several times, and demolished in the 19th century, leaving only its garden behind. In 1908, after the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Era, the garden was opened to the public as a National Garden.

   Bebek Parkı (Türkan Sabancı), Istanbul, Turkey
2. 02
   Food

   Stop by a Five-Generation Shop

   Visit Meşhur Bebek Badem Ezmesi, an almond paste shop founded in 1904 by Mehmet Halil İşgüder and his wife Anastasia. The business began in Mudanya and later moved here. After Mehmet Halil’s death, Anastasia ran the shop, and their daughter Sevim took over in 1957. Today, the fifth generation still stands behind the same counter.

   Meşhur Bebek Badem Ezmesi, Istanbul, Turkey
3. 03
   Photography

   Stand Before the Current

   Pause at Akıntıburnu, directly above one of the Bosphorus’s strongest surface currents. The neighborhood’s Greek name was Mega Revma, meaning Great Current, and Greek sailors called this spot the Devil’s Current. In the age of sail, ships could not pass here on their own and had to be pulled from shore by rope. Look at the water’s surface: the current is still visible.

   Akıntıburnu, Arnavutköy, Istanbul, Turkey
4. 04
   Art

   See the Waterfront Mansions and the Church

   From the Arnavutköy waterfront by the Taksiarhis Greek Orthodox Church, take in the row of wooden Bosphorus mansions with their slender bay windows, carved facades, and pastel colors. In the district’s 1912 census, nearly six thousand Greeks lived here. The church on the square was destroyed in the 1894 earthquake and rebuilt between 1896 and 1899; its complex includes a holy spring.

   Taksiarhis Rum Ortodoks Kilisesi, Arnavutköy, Istanbul, Turkey

Check opening hours before you go. Hours, access conditions and weather can change.