Çamlıca Hill & Mosque

Istanbul's highest point on the Asian side offers a panorama that explains why empires fought over this city. From Çamlıca Hill, at 268 meters above sea level, you can see the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn, the old city skyline, the Princes' Islands, and on a clear day, the snow-capped peaks of Uludağ mountain 150 kilometers to the south. Ottoman poets wrote about these views. Sultans picnicked here. And in 2019, Turkey completed the country's largest mosque on its slopes.

The Çamlıca Mosque is a deliberate statement. Opened in 2019 with a capacity of 63,000 worshippers, it was designed to be visible from virtually every point in Istanbul — its six minarets rise to 107.1 meters, its dome spans 34 meters, and the complex includes an art gallery, a library, a conference hall, and a museum of Islamic civilization. It is modern Ottoman revivalism on a scale that divides opinion: some see it as a magnificent addition to Istanbul's skyline, others as a political statement about the direction of contemporary Turkey.

The hill itself has been a beloved recreational spot for centuries. Pine and cypress forests cover the upper slopes (çamlıca means "place of pines"), and the tea gardens scattered among the trees are packed with families on weekends. The original Çamlıca was two hills — Büyük Çamlıca (Big) and Küçük Çamlıca (Small) — and both have been picnic destinations since at least the 18th century.

The contrast between the ancient tea gardens and the new mega-mosque captures something essential about Istanbul: this is a city that simultaneously cherishes its Ottoman nostalgia and aggressively reshapes itself, sometimes on the same hilltop.