The Bosphorus - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 447

University include two prime ministers of Bulgaria and two prime
ministers of Turkey, Bülent Ecevit and Tansu Çiller, the latter being
the only woman ever to hold that post.
The site of the University is superb and from its terrace one
commands a stunning view of this most beautiful part of the
Bosphorus. Just below the terrace is the attractive house which once
belonged to Tevfik Fikret (1867-1915), for many years professor of
Turkish Literature at Robert College and one of the leading poets
of his time. His house, which is now a memorial museum, is called
Aşıyan, or the Nest; it is on the left of the graveyard road which
leads up to the University. Like most house-museums it is a little
dreary, but the man was not. He was an idealist and utopian socialist,
convinced that the salvation of Turkey lay in its youth, which he
idealized in the person of his son Haluk, to or about whom he wrote
a moving series of poems. But the young man had his own ideas
about his future, for when he came of age he went of to the USA.
and became a Presbyterian minister!
RUMELİ HİSARI
After Bebek Bay the Bosphorus quickly diminishes to its narrowest
stretch, about 700 metres in width. It was here that Darius chose
to construct his bridge of boats, designed by the Greek engineer
Mandrocles of Samos, when in 512 B.C. he led an army of 700,000
men against the Scythians. While his army crossed the Great King
watched from a stone throne cut into the clif about where now
stands the north tower of the castle. The throne of Darius and the
two commemorative columns which he erected on the site used still
to be shown in antiquity.
The village of Rumeli Hisarı is dominated by and takes its name
from the fortress of the same name built by Fatih Mehmet in 1452,
the year before he conquered the city. It is a splendid late medieval
fortification, the object of which was, in cooperation with the older
castle on the other side, Anadolu Hisarı, to cut the city of from
communication with and possible aid from the Black Sea; hence the
castle was originally called Bogaz-kesen, a sort of pun which means
both “cut-throat” and “cutter of the strait”. In this object it was