Princes' Islands
The series of small islets across the Asian Side of Istanbul are called the Princes' Islands. The relatively larger 4 pieces of this archipelago off the southern coast of Istanbul are popular to live, stay or visit. The Princes' Islands have been loved by locals as an escape from the city as the islands are rising with pine woods on the Marmara Sea with scattered neighborhoods in-between. There are no high buildings, extensive concrete structures nor motor vehicles on the islands. The names of these four islands respectively are: Kınalıada, Burgazada, Heybeliada and Büyükada.
Büyükada (simply the Big-Island in Turkish) covers approximately 14 kilometers in length from north-to-south, and this feature makes it the largest and largest member of the island group. Attracting both nature lovers and history enthusiasts, Büyükada continues to be the most popular one with the highest capacity of visitors looking for the widest-menu of options to do.
What to do on the Princes' Islands?
In contrast with Istanbul, the islands are for the easy day plans. Usually, people go there for activities like walking, hiking, biking, dining, even swimming etc. Considering the weather, you can plan on several things like:
- walking streets filled with pretty houses
- discovering the woods on a bike
- lunching with fresh sea food
The formation of the Princes' Islands
These islands, which were formed as a result of movements in the earth's crust, earthquakes and tectonic shifts, were shaped by the changes in landforms in the Sea of Marmara. As a result of these movements, today's Islands region rose above sea level. Active fault lines seen in and around the Sea of Marmara have been effective in shaping the geographical structure of the Islands. The geographical structure of the Islands consists mostly of rocks. These rocks are hard stones such as basalt, granite and schist that rise from the sea floor.
What does the name "Princes' Islands" mean?
The name "Princes" remained from a useful side of these islands during the ancient times. Because of being so close to big capital city but not to easy reach because of the currents, made it a perfect place for exiled nobilities. This is why the mentioned "Princes" are not the fortunate ones as we can assume. Meanwhile, another common usage of the islands were for the monasteries. There were two types of monasteries in the Byzantine world. One settled in and around the urban areas and the other type was for the distant isolated places. The islands presented a solution offering both at once. The direct distance with a bird's fly it is around 16km/10miles from downtown Istanbul but going and coming back had always been a difficult until the steamships. This is why only after the industrial revolution in 19th century, the islands turned to be known as the preferable locations for summer houses among the well-doing istanbulites. Thus, the beautiful houses - up to only 3-storied buildings - you see today has been emerging in the last decades of the 19th century and early 20th century.
When to go to the Princes' Islands?
The timing matters for this experience! Because the season you go or the day you choose is important. Here are the tips coming for visiting the Princes Islands below:
- In winter, only good weather days are worth to go because a Princes' Islands trip are recommended because of outdoor activities
- In the high-season of Istanbul, if it fits into your program, weekdays are always more pleasant
- Except the long summer days, arriving earlier than afternoon hours is important if you are planning to come back the same day