Beykoz - Turks feel a deep affection
Whether you travel to Beykoz by boat down the Bosphorus or by road, the distinctive atmosphere of this outlying district of Istanbul strikes you immediately. You leave the crowded concrete city behind, and find yourself enveloped by forest. Then you know you have arrived. It has been claimed that Beykoz was settled 2700 years ago, although by whom is uncertain. What is known is that during Roman times there was a votive altar at Anadolu Kavasi at the mouth of the Bosphorus. Here sailors heading into the Black Sea made sacrifices to Zeus and Poseidon for fair winds and stormless seas. The temperamental Black Sea was so feared that no seaman would think of entering its waters without calling upon divine assistance to ensure his safehttp://www.us-tr.com/icerik/articles/beykoz_istanbul.html return.



The Turks have felt a deep affection for Beykoz ever since they captured the region around seven centuries ago. Ottoman sultans and statesmen built many hunting lodges and country houses in this beautiful area facing the Bosphorus strait to the west and surrounded by woods.