Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the red yalı, or seafront mansion, of Halet Çambel, the distinguished
archaeologist, which was built in the years 1820-30. Along the shore
there are several excellent fish restaurants.
There are two Greek churches in the village, which still has a small
Greek community. Both churches in their present form date from the
late nineteenth century. The one near the shore road, the Taxiarkes, is
dedicated to the Archangels Michael and Gabriel; the one in the upper
village to Profitis Elias (Prophet Elijah). Both churches have sacred wells.
The large mosque on the seafront, Tevfikiye Camii, was commissioned
by Mahmut II and built in 1832 in the neoclassical style.
The interior of Arnavutköy is also quite charming and picturesque,
particularly if one takes the back streets and lanes and climbs the
slopes of the hills and valleys on which they are perched. On the
hill above in a superb position are the buildings of Robert College,
an American coeducational lycée, founded in 1871
as the American
College of Girls. The American College for Girls was the first modern
lycée of its kind in Turkey and produced many women who played
a leading part in the life of their country, the most famous being the
writer Halide Edip Adıvar. In 1971, on the occasion of its centennial,
the American College for Girls was amalgamated with the boy's lycée
of the old Robert College, a little farther up the Bosphorus, with
the new institution taking the latter name and occupying the site in
Arnavutköy.
Of the point of Arnavutköy, Akinti Burnu (Cape of the Current)
is the deepest part of the Bosphorus, over 100 metres in depth at the
centre of the strait. Here the current flows so fast that it is very hard
for sailing vessels to round the point. Apparently crabs also found
it difficult and leaving the sea walked overland across the point, for
Gyllius, after quoting Dionysus Byzantius and Aelian in his support,
says: “I myself saw there stones worn down by the long procession of
crabs;” and he adds: “And even if I had not seen it, I should not have
thought it far from the truth that stones should be worn down by the
hard claws of crabs, since we see that ants can dig out furrows and
make a path by the continuous attrition of their feet.”
Rounding Akinti Burnu, we enter the calm waters of Bebek Bay, one
of the most beautiful on the Bosphorus. Lush rolling hills with groves of
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