Northern Gate of the Bosphorus: From Emirgan to the Lighthouse

1. 01
   Nature

   Walk Through the Grove of an Executed Prince

   Start the day at Emirgan Grove, named after Emir Güne Han, the Safavid governor who surrendered Revan without a fight during Murad IV’s 1635 campaign. He was brought to Istanbul, renamed Yusuf Pasha, and granted this fifty-hectare estate. He was executed in the next sultan’s reign, but the area still carries his name.

   Emirgan Korusu main seaside gate, Istanbul, Turkey
2. 02
   Art

   Learn How Two Horses Ended Up Together

   Visit Sakıp Sabancı Museum, housed in a mansion commissioned in 1925 for a prince of the Egyptian Khedival family and completed in 1927 by Italian architect Edoardo De Nari. Hacı Ömer Sabancı bought it in 1951, and it became a museum in 2002. Its famous pair of horse statues did not arrive together: one was commissioned from Italy in 1955, and the other was bought at auction in 1956.

   Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
3. 03
   Food

   Question Who the Börek Really Belongs To

   Head to central Sarıyer to try Sarıyer börek, made with hand-rolled pastry, sold by weight, and served hot. According to the story, Mehmet Ali Bey arrived from a Yörük village near Safranbolu in 1890 and bought a local börek shop here in 1895. Today, several businesses in Sarıyer claim the same origin story, and which one is the original remains disputed.

   Sarıyer Merkez, börekçiler caddesi, Istanbul, Turkey
4. 04
   Culture

   Learn Why People Take a Thread

   Stop at Telli Baba Tomb on the coastal road, where visitors take a thread from inside and make a prayer. The threads symbolize a bridal veil, and the shrine is especially popular with people wishing for marriage. There is no documented proof of who is buried here; one folk account says he was a battalion imam from the time of Mehmed the Conqueror named Imam Abdullah Efendi.

   Telli Baba Tomb, Istanbul, Turkey
5. 05
   History

   Find the Point Where the Chain Was Stretched

   Continue to the waterfront viewpoint facing Rumeli Kavağı Castle. The hilltop fortress was built in the 12th century by Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos to control customs points. A chain was stretched from here to its counterpart on the opposite shore, and merchant ships entering the Bosphorus paid customs. The site passed to the Ottomans in 1452, and Murad IV expanded it extensively in 1624.

   Rumeli Kavağı sahili, facing Rumeli Kavağı Kalesi, Istanbul, Turkey
6. 06
   Exploration

   Finish at the Mouth of the Black Sea

   End the route at Rumeli Feneri, where the Bosphorus opens to the Black Sea. The lighthouse was first lit by the French on 15 May 1856 to help allied ships navigate the strait during the Crimean War. Its hundred-year operating concession was canceled in 1933. The tower is thirty meters tall, its light is visible from eighteen nautical miles away, and it still operates today.

   Rumeli Feneri breakwater, Istanbul, Turkey

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