Çengelköy

About Çengelköy

Mahalle (administrative quarter) in Üsküdar, İstanbul–Asia, northwestern Turkey

Çengelköy is a historic fishing village turned quiet neighbourhood on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul, between Beylerbeyi and Kuleli, with a population of 13,801 (2022). From the 6th century its harbour was known as Sophianai after the palace that Emperor Justin II built nearby for his consort Sophia. The present name, meaning "hook village", is of uncertain origin: one story links it to the 19th-century Ottoman admiral Çengeloğlu Tahir Pasha, who built a mosque and a waterside mansion here, another derives it from the Persian word for crab because of the abundance of seafood in the strait. The neighbourhood is mainly residential, with Ottoman wooden mansions, many of them restored, such as the Abdullah Ağa and Sadullah Pasha yalıs, the Byzantine church of Aya Yorgi, an 800-year-old plane tree on one of its two terraced squares, and on the hill above the Vahdettin Pavilion, an official residence of the Presidency and state guest house. Çengelköy is world-famous for the small cucumbers once grown here, and today it is one of the most popular places on the Asian side for lunch or dinner, with waterfront restaurants and cafes whose views Wikivoyage counts among the finest panoramas on the Bosphorus, boutique chocolatiers, and the Mehmet Çakır sports centre with six indoor pools.

Where:

Istanbul, Türkiye