Princes' Islands

The Princes' Islands got their name the hard way. During the Byzantine era, this archipelago of nine islands in the Sea of Marmara was the go-to dumping ground for inconvenient royalty — deposed emperors, troublesome princes, and politically dangerous empresses were exiled here, often after being blinded or mutilated to ensure they stayed out of power. Empress Irene, Empress Zoe, and several other Byzantine royals were imprisoned on Büyükada, the largest island.

Today the islands are Istanbul's escape valve — a 90-minute ferry ride from the chaos of the city to a world where motorized vehicles are banned, pine forests blanket the hillsides, and grand Victorian-era mansions with ornate wooden balconies line the waterfront. The car ban is not just a tourist gimmick; it has been policy for decades. Horse-drawn carriages were the primary transport until 2020, when an equine disease led to their replacement with silent electric vehicles.

Büyükada has a peculiar connection to revolutionary politics. Leon Trotsky lived here for four years after his deportation from the Soviet Union in 1929, working on his autobiography and his "History of the Russian Revolution" in a rented mansion. The house still stands, charred by a fire in 2018 but recognizable. It is one of history's stranger footnotes — the architect of the Russian Revolution, exiled to an island where the biggest controversy was whether to allow bicycles on the main road.

The islands were historically home to Istanbul's Greek, Armenian, and Jewish communities, who built the summer houses, churches, and synagogues that still define the architecture. On a weekday outside tourist season, the islands feel like a Mediterranean village that accidentally drifted into the Sea of Marmara — sleepy, salt-aired, and completely at odds with the megacity visible on the horizon.