Bebek to Arnavutköy: the yalı sahil
Two Bosphorus villages connected by a kilometre and a half of painted wooden waterfront mansions. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Bebek bus stop
Bus 22, 22RE, 25E up the sahil from Kabataş. Step off at the Bebek stop and walk down to the bay — three minutes. The walk's a kilometre and a half along the water; the bus takes you back at the other end.

2. Bebek's bay
The bay is the social heart — Bebek Kahvesi on the corner since the 1940s, the little white Bebek Camii on the water, the small parkı with the children's playground. Coffee here is the right opening; the walk starts when you're done with it.

3. The yalı stretch
South along the sahil — sea wall on your left, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century yalıs on your right, mansions money has been pouring into for two centuries. Most are private; the gate-watchers are polite. The view is the architecture and the water in equal measure.

4. Akıntı Burnu
The headland where the Bosphorus current accelerates — fastest in the strait, by some accounts. Fishermen on the rail don't cast; they hold lines and let the current bring the fish to them. Worth a minute on the rail to watch.

5. Arnavutköy seafront — the fish meyhanes
The row of meyhanes along the water — half a dozen places, all serving the same five or six fish (çupra, levrek, lüfer, palamut depending on season). Pick the one with the locals at it, not the menu in English. The back lanes of painted wooden houses are five minutes' detour either before or after.

6. Arnavutköy bus stop
22 / 22RE / 25E south back to Kabataş, or north to Sarıyer if the evening's still young. Tram and metro at Kabataş; ferry across to Üsküdar if you want to make a night of it.

Bebek to Arnavutköy: the yalı sahil