Princes' Islands Tourism Development Center

Büyükada - Important Villas and Mansion Houses You Can Encounter During Short Tour And Grand Tour Which You Can Do With A Coach Or Bicycle

The street on the left side of the square leads to Fayton Meydanı, where all the horse-drawn carriages wait to be hired. The standard routes for visitors are the Büyük Tür (Grand Tour), a complete circuit of Büyükada, and the Küçük Tür (Short Tour), which does only the northern half, cutting across the waist of the island between Isa Tepesi and Yüce Tepe.

Hotel Splendid Palas

Hotel Splendid Palas (formerly the Splendid Oteli), the oldest and grandest of the island’s extant hotels, founded in 1911. The hotel is an elegant period piece, with an enchanting central courtyard and much original furniture and period detail.

Hotel Calypso

Farther up 23 Nisan Caddesi and on the same side was the old Akasya Oteli, earlier known as the Hotel Calypso, whose distinguished guests included Prime Minister of Greece Elefterios Venizelos (1930) and King Zog of Albania (1934).The street on the left side.

Büyükada Anadolu Club

Büyükada Anadolu Club founded in 1906 as the Prinkipo Yacht Club. Notable guests have included Atatürk and Ismet Inönü as well as foreign heads of state: Elefterios Venizelos, Prime Minister of Greece (1924); King Amanullah Han of Afghanistan (1930); King Carol of Romania and Madame Lupescu (1933); General Metaxas, the Greek dictator (1936); Shah Riza Pahlavi of Iran (1964); and Nikolau Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator (1976). When Atatürk visited the club he stayed in Room 25, which is preserved as it was in his time. In the garden of the club there is a monument to Atatürk, dedicated in 1981 to mark the centenary of his birth. The club cannot be visited, but one can observe the beautiful buildings and grounds from the gateway.

The Armenian Catholic Church of Surp Asdvadzadzin

The Armenian Catholic church of Surp Asdvadzadzin (Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin) is in Meşrutiyet Mahallesi about four hundred meters southwest of the iskele, on Mehmetçık Sokağı near its intersection with Kadıyoran Caddesi. This is a large basilica in the neoclassical style of the Italian Renaissance, built in the years 1856-58.

Agopyan Köşkü

Agopyan Köşkü formerly the Hotel des Princes, Hotel Bel-Er, Hotel Çankaya

Fabiato Köşkü

Built in 1878 and restored in 1997-8 by Çelik Gülersoy of the Turkish Touring and Automobile Club; now open to the public as a cafe and Büyükada Cultural Center, which frequently hosts art exhibitions and musical events in its salons or its lovely garden.

Hacopolu Köşkü

Now the headquarters of the district governor of the Princes’ Isles, Adalar Belediye Kaymakamlığı.

Seferoğlu (Azaryan) Köşkü

Manuk Azaryan Efendi, Ottoman diplomat; Ottoman general and writer Zeki Paşa; Turkish diplomat and writer Zeki Kemal Kuneralp.

Con Paşa Köşkü

Con Paşa was Trasivolos Yannaros, the Ottoman official responsible for establishing regular ferry service to the Princes’ Isles.

Nizam Caddesi (the continuation of Çankaya Caddesi):

Trotsky House

The ruined Sivastopol Köşkü (Trotsky House) stands in its wild garden at the foot of Hamlacı Sokağı, which leads down to the north shore from Çankaya Caddesi. Leon Trotsky lived here in the years 1929-33, after being exiled from Russia, and it was here that he wrote his autobiography and his History of the Russian Revolution.

Trotsky left Büyükada on 17 July 1933, never to return. Despite his isolation on the island he seems to have enjoyed his exile there, as evidenced by the last entry he made in his notebook on the day he departed: "It has been four and one-half years. I have the strange feeling of having my feet firmly planted on Büyükada."

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