The lighthouse at the far end of the city
Rumeli Karaburun Lighthouse
The story of Rumeli Karaburun Lighthouse, located on the end of the Bosphorus on the Black Sea, is interesting. Let’s start from the ‘Graveyard of the Orphans’ right in front of it and imagine the pirates who live here and take a tour along the coast.
This week we turned our direction to the north to escape the complexity of the metropolis and take the air. For weekday employees like us, the villages that are far from the crowd, distant, and suitable for spending a lot of time in nature are lined up on the Seacoast of Istanbul.
We chose to travel from the village roads from Başakşehir, Arnavutköy direction, but for a faster route, the North Anatolian Motorway may be preferred. Along the way, you pass through different villages and Lake Durusu, which we know as Terkos, and enter Karaburun.
Black Sea village
A typical Black Sea village. Luckily, the village market is set up on Saturdays. If I said Sunday, there are a few stalls left and right in a short street. No matter, the crispy greens coming from the local producers were gathered in the morning.
Village coffee at the beginning of the market is the first stop. It is ideal for having a rest and chatting with Karaburunites, where you can ask around. You can buy all your shopping needs such as a bakery, market, a butcher from the shops in this square. If you go down to the beach and turn left after the coffee break, you will climb into the village and towards the lighthouse. There is the beach on the right that stretches as far as the eye can see. The large harbor is full of fishing boats.
You climb the slope into the village and go to the lighthouse. The French built the lighthouse in 1860, and then the British established a ship rescue organization. The area where the lighthouse was located was an old Genoese castle, but there is no trace of the castle. According to the website of the General Directorate of Coastal Safety, the tower of the lighthouse, which is 54 meters above sea level, is 12 meters. Visible at 15 miles, the flashlight flashes every 5 seconds and is the third-largest lighthouse in the world with luminous power. Rainwater eaves on the sides of the original copper domeLiondecorated with heads. The water accumulating on the eaves is designed to flow from the open mouths of lions.
A romantic picnic
The original structure of the lantern is preserved; well maintained. The long rope in the garden was used for the rescue of passengers with the ropeway system if a ship was stranded on the shallow ground in bad weather conditions … Also, the area surrounded by wire mesh on the bottom of the lighthouse towards the sea is the Orphanage Cemetery. For centuries, abandoned people from the sea have been buried here. The nose is also known as a pirate bed. So there are many legends in the region …
The lighthouse building is closed, even if you cannot enter it, you can pass by and watch the view from the cliff in front of it. While we were there, the two young men were having a picnic, spreading their picnic blankets right across the little green area between the lantern and the cliff. Film It can be a good suggestion for those who want to make such a romantic organization that looks like it is out of the square.
It is refreshing to take photos over the cliff and watch the vast Black Sea view. When you look from the hill where the lighthouse is located, the beaches at the bottom of the steep cliffs on the left and the flat beaches reaching Yeniköy on the right are very attractive. In the summer, these places were very crowded. The municipality has built breakwaters at frequent intervals along the beach.
Obviously, it is not safe to swim in the sea, which is also tough in summer. After photographing the rocks where the lighthouse is located, you can walk through the streets reflecting traditional architecture. When you go down to the beach, unfortunately, you will find a concrete beach full of unfinished summer houses. It is possible to walk, cycle or skate along the long beach. At the end of the beach, there is a coal port. The region has been used as a mining area for many years. The villagers are either miners or fishermen. You can sit in one of the few fishermen on the beach and have your meal watching the purse seiners in the open.
Watch the birds in the lake
We finished our trip here, returned from the road we came from, and chose to eat at one of the picnic spots by Durusu Lake. Bahçem Picnic Area, where we decided to sit by chance upon entering and seeing lambs and free-range sheep, charges 30 lire per car for entrance. This is actually a farm, obviously …
There are employees who take care of cows, sheep, chickens. It is very tidy and very calm. The wooded area next door is also suitable for camping. You can sit on the pier stretching over the lake and watch birds. We saw several herons and ducklings resting in the reeds. They serve barbecue and you can make your own picnic with what you take with you.
Durusu Lake, known as Terkos and meeting the water needs of Istanbul, is an old lagoon. Its entrance was closed in time and formed this semi-salty lake. In 1883, a pumping station and pumping station were established on the shore, but the story goes back centuries. Aqueducts, built by the Roman Emperor Constantine, have carried water to Istanbul for centuries, starting from Vize, passing through the south of Terkos Lake.
We did not have enough time to see the collapsed arches, as the sun dipped into the lake and said goodbye to the birds, at the end of the day, we saluted a flock of thousands of storks in the sky. This was the gift of the trip … You know what they say: “Whoever sees a stork in the air travels a lot that year!” And this place is on the spring migration route of storks.
