Kadıköy Ferry Pier & the View of Haydarpaşa Station
Why is it significant?
Step off the ferry, let the crowd sweep past you, and turn to face the water. Gulls hang over the boats, simit sellers call out, and across the little bay to your right stands a stone palace with pointed corner towers, sitting right on the sea. That is Haydarpaşa Station, and you are in Asia.
Key Facts
| Place | Kadıköy Ferry Pier & the View of Haydarpaşa Station |
|---|---|
| Address | Kadıköy İskelesi, Rıhtım Caddesi, Caferağa, 34710 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye |
| Geo Coordinates | 40.99290, 29.02290 |
| Part of Walk | Fish, Pickles and Sunset Tea: Istanbul's Asian Side from Kadıköy Market to Moda |
| Generated | Generated |
Step off the ferry, let the crowd sweep past you, and turn to face the water. Gulls hang over the boats, simit sellers call out, and across the little bay to your right stands a stone palace with pointed corner towers, sitting right on the sea. That is Haydarpaşa Station, and you are in Asia.
The station was built by German engineers and architects between 1906 and 1908 and opened in 1909, as the grand terminus of the Anatolian Railway. It was the Istanbul end of the line towards Baghdad, the great railway project of the Ottoman Empire and its ally Kaiser Wilhelm the Second. Because the shore is reclaimed land, the whole building sits on more than a thousand wooden piles driven deep into the seabed.
It has had a dramatic life. In 1917, during the First World War, an explosion of ammunition stored at the station caused huge damage. In 2010 a fire destroyed its roof. In 2013 the long-distance trains stopped coming, and since then the station has waited, restored on the outside, while archaeologists digging around it uncovered remains of ancient and Byzantine Chalcedon.
Because that is the real surprise of this shore. Kadıköy is ancient Chalcedon, founded by Greek settlers from Megara in the seventh century BC, some years before Byzantium rose on the opposite bank. The historian Herodotus tells how a Persian general mocked its founders as blind, for choosing this shore when the far better harbour across the water lay empty. Later tradition turned the story into a prophecy telling the founders of Byzantium to settle opposite the land of the blind.
The Chalcedonians, though, had the last laugh in one way: they got the food. Fishermen, market gardeners and bakers have been feeding this side of the city ever since, and the market behind you is one of the best in Istanbul. Cross the busy road by the pier, and head into the streets of the market, towards a church that stands among fishmongers.