Rumelihisarı and Aşiyan: the fortress and the poet's hill
Mehmed II's 1452 siege fortress at the water, the Ottoman poet's hilltop house and writers' cemetery above it. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Rumelihisarı bus stop
The 22 from Kabataş drops you at the sahil opposite the fortress gates. Some 25E buses also stop here. Boğaziçi University's lower entrances are five minutes' walk south if you want a campus loop before starting.

2. Rumelihisarı
Mehmed II's 1452 fortress, raised in four months by tradition (longer in practice) to seal the Bosphorus before the siege. Three towers, each named for the vizier who oversaw its construction — Halil Paşa, Saruca Paşa, Zağanos Paşa. Now an open-air museum; the ramparts walk is the visit, the amphitheatre is a summer concert venue. Closed Mondays.

3. Yahya Kemal Caddesi
The street that climbs from the sahil up to Aşiyan. Sixty metres of rise in five minutes; the hard part of the walk. Pace yourself and look back at the Bosphorus widening below each minute.

4. Aşiyan Müzesi
Tevfik Fikret's house, finished in 1906 to his own design. Aşiyan means nest in Persian. Two storeys, modest, more about its position than its scale. The terrace looks down on the fortress you've just walked. Closed Mondays.

5. Aşiyan Cemetery
A small terraced graveyard a few minutes along the ridge. Tevfik Fikret is buried here; so are Orhan Veli Kanık and Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı. Nazım Hikmet has a cenotaph — his actual grave is in Moscow. Read the carved Ottoman script even if you can't.

6. Aşiyan bus stop
Back down to the sahil at the Aşiyan stop. The 22 bus runs back to Kabataş; the 25E heads north toward Sarıyer if you want to extend the day with a fish lunch up the strait.

Rumelihisarı and Aşiyan: the fortress and the poet's hill