Heybeliada is the second-biggest of the Princes' Islands and the quieter one — Büyükada gets the day-trippers, Heybeliada gets the residents and the writers. Two hills, one village, two institutions on the heights: the Naval Academy on the eastern point, the Halki Seminary at the top of the northern hill, closed by the Turkish state in 1971 and unresolved fifty-five years later.
Four kilometres on the island, a hundred minutes with the climb. Ferries from Eminönü, Kabataş, Bostancı or Kadıköy drop you at the iskele. Start with the village — wooden houses around the harbour, a couple of old bakeries, no cars. Walk east along the shore toward the Naval Academy; the campus is closed but the perimeter walk is the view.
The climb up to Halki is through pine forest — Heybeliada is half trees by area. The seminary at the top has been a building without a function since the 1971 law nationalising private higher education shut it; the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the EU and the US State Department have spent half a century asking for it to reopen. Building intact, grounds open, institution closed. Back down for the ferry.
