The Princes' Islands
An hour by boat and no cars: wooden houses, pine trees and the Sea of Marmara.
About this tour
The islands were a place of Byzantine exile and later the summer refuge of Istanbul's Greek, Armenian and Jewish families — hence the two- and three-storey wooden houses still standing on Büyükada and Heybeliada.
Private motor vehicles are not allowed. You walk, cycle, or take the electric cars, and climb to the monastery of St George for the whole Sea of Marmara. The crossing makes it a full day.