Moda Pier: The 1917 Landing on the Sea of Marmara
Why is it significant?
Walk out along the jetty and stop where the pier building stands on its own over the water, its small, pretty pavilion facing the open sea. Waves slap against the pilings, fishermen cast their lines from the rocks, and the old city glows across the bay.
Key Facts
| Place | Moda Pier: The 1917 Landing on the Sea of Marmara |
|---|---|
| Address | Moda İskelesi, Moda Sahil Yolu, Caferağa, 34710 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye |
| Geo Coordinates | 40.97890, 29.02520 |
| Part of Walk | Fish, Pickles and Sunset Tea: Istanbul's Asian Side from Kadıköy Market to Moda |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk out along the jetty and stop where the pier building stands on its own over the water, its small, pretty pavilion facing the open sea. Waves slap against the pilings, fishermen cast their lines from the rocks, and the old city glows across the bay.
Moda Pier was built in 1917, in the middle of the First World War, when the Ottoman Empire was fighting for its life and Istanbul was full of soldiers, refugees and shortages. Even so, the city kept building piers, because on this shore the ferry was the lifeline. For the families of Moda, the boat to the other side was how you went to work, to school, to the market or to a wedding.
Ferries are still the soul of Istanbul. Every day, huge numbers of people cross between Europe and Asia on them, standing at the rail with a glass of tea, feeding simit to the gulls that follow the boats. Even after the Marmaray rail tunnel opened under the Bosphorus in 2013, many Istanbulites still choose the ferry, because twenty minutes on the water can mend a bad day.
Moda's pier has had quiet years and busy ones, closures and restorations, but it has survived, which is more than can be said for many of the wooden piers and mansions that once lined this coast. Look back at the shore and imagine it a century ago, with wooden summer houses, gardens running down to the sea and rowing boats tied to the rocks.
So this is where the walk ends: on the water, between two continents, with the taste of lokum, pickles and tea still with you. You started at the ferry pier in ancient Chalcedon, the city of the blind, and you end here looking across at the city they supposedly failed to see. Stay for the sunset... the Chalcedonians had the better view all along.