Reading list | Tarabya

Tarabya is one of the prettiest coves on the European shore of the Bosphorus, and still flanked by wooded hillsides. Unfotunately the government ordered a marina, and the view is somewhat spoiled. The name comes from Therapia, was well known in Byzantine and early Ottoman times for its therapeutic hot springs, which unfortunately dried up or cooled down after an earthquake. But it remained a popular resort for the wealthy during the hot summer months when plague stalked the city. For an account of Therapia in its finaly melancholic heyday, read Harold Nicolson's 1921 novel, Sweet Waters.