Pierre Loti Tepesi Tickets and Tours | GetExperience.com

Pierre Loti Hill is a tea terrace on the slope above Eyup, at the closed end of the Golden Horn. The name is borrowed. A French naval officer wrote novels as Pierre Loti, and this district runs through them.

Two ways up the slope

They are not the same visit. A cable car covers the 384 metres of hillside in about two minutes. The footpath takes twenty and goes through the graves.

• The cable car. It starts beside the Eyup Sultan mosque and lands at the terrace, for a city fare.
• The cemetery path. Stone steps between Ottoman headstones, shaded, steep in places, and the better half of the trip.
• The terrace. Tables under trees, tea in tulip glasses, and the water below narrowing as it runs into the city.

What is around you up here

This is a working burial ground, not a park. Families come to tend graves, and the quiet is expected of you. Directly below stands Eyup Sultan, among the most visited mosques in the country.

Pilgrims arrive there all year. Boys in white satin come for circumcision parties on summer weekends. That crowd, rather than the view, is what fills the cable car.

Practical

• Best hour. Late afternoon, when the light is behind you and the estuary goes flat.
• Fridays. Midday prayer packs the square below, and the queue for the cable car grows with it.
• Dress. The terrace is casual. The mosque at the bottom is not, so cover arms and hair before going in.
• What it costs. The view is free and the tea is priced for visitors, which is still small money.
• Getting here. Ferries up the Horn stop at Eyup, and taxis take the shore road. Most city walking tours never come this far.
• Weather. Nothing up here is covered. Wind or rain empties the terrace in minutes.