Afternoon at Camlica
By Matt Krause, December 2003Camlica is a large hill on the Asian side of the city. When you're crossing the Bosphorus Bridge, going from the European side to the Asian side, you'll see a hill on the left side of the highway, with a lot of radio towers on top. That's Camlica.
Camlica's park, at the top of the hill, brings something of great value that every large city needs to offer its people: a nice, quiet, open space with a chance to get up, above, and out of the city. Most of the time we see the city from its streets - a crack in the sidewalk, a stoplight, a man selling simit from a cart with wheels. Go to Camlica, and look back down on the city from above. Walk the final, stone-paved stretch of the circular drive at the top of the hill, and absorb the massiveness of this great city. Istanbul stretches as far as the eye can see, in all directions.
The Bosphorus looks particularly impressive from here. One thing I really enjoyed was the sight of a massive oil tanker making its way up the waterway, toward the Black Sea. It dwarfed the cars as it passed under the bridge, and it even dwarfed the huge bridge itself.
But Camlica is more than just pretty views. Go for a leisurely stroll through its gardens. Relax on a comfortable couch in one of its teahouses, and enjoy some Turkish coffee or tea and biscuits.
With its gardens, teahouses, and unparalleled views of the city, Camlica would be great on a clear summer day. But don't wait for summer to go there. I was at Camlica on a cold, wet, windy day, and it was perhaps even more impressive because of it. The drifting banks of fog would conceal a viewpoint, then lift to surprise me with yet another amazing view of the city.
To get there from Taksim, take the Kadikoy dolmus. It leaves from the northwest side of the square, near Cumhuriyet and Lamartin Caddesi. Get off near Acibadem, shortly after the dolmus exits the highway. From there, hail a taxi and tell the driver you want "Buyuk Camlica". From Acibadem, it's about a TL 5 million taxi ride. I'm sure there are more efficient ways to get there, but I'm new to the city and still finding my way around.
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