That Sunny Sunday on Rumeli Feneri

Sometimes, I follow folks on adventures without fully figuring out where we’re going.

I’m not lazy or irresponsible. It’s just that when someone says ,”Hey, let’s go to this cool place,” I’m more likely to say “YES” rather than, “What is that, exactly?”

It’s the adventurer in me.

So, how could I say no to a sunny Sunday on Rumeli Feneri?

I couldn’t.

Even if I didn’t know what Rumeli Feneri was.

On the appointed sunny Sunday, I met a ragtag and international group of similarly adventure-inclined people in front of a Burger King in Taksim Square, and our long journey to Rumeli Feneri began.

I want to emphasize the “long” part, because the first thing that became readily apparent was that Rumeli Feneri was really far away from our meeting place. It’s all the way on the Black Sea coast, so close to the outskirts of Istanbul that it barely even registers as BEING Istanbul. We took the Metro to the end of the line… and then we took a bus nearly to the end of the line. It took almost two hours.

And what was this journey even for? Rumeli Feneri, I learned en route, is a lighthouse and some ruins. That’s pretty cool… but as I sat on the bumpy city bus to the end of the line, with my head pounding and my empty stomach rumbling, I felt some doubt creeping in. Maybe I should have looked into this first.

It didn’t help that the temperature dropped 15° between Taksim and the Black Sea. We stood shivering, waiting for someone to tell us where to go, wondering where exactly these ruins were.

Then we climbed a hill and got our first real taste of Rumeli Feneri.

We stood on top of a sweeping cliff, with epic views of the turquoise sea and ruins in the distance. It was stunning.

Unfortunately, I only took a few pictures before we left—apparently, we were on top of the WRONG cliff. The actual ruins of Rumeli Feneri were farther off still.

So, we walked.

And walked.

And kept walking.

Hiking up the side of this long, deserted road to Rumeli Feneri  was extremely surreal. Remember, we were still technically in Istanbul—but the endless traffic, crowded spaces, and urban sprawl of the city was nowhere to be seen.  Instead, we passed a lot of cows.

After walking for an hour and breaking for a meal, we finally arrived at Rumeli Feneri at dusk.

And there it was, at last.

These old Byzantine ruins loom over the Black Sea, waiting to be explored. (And much like Yedikule Fortress, there are no railings. You can climb unprotected and unimpeded.)

From the ruins, you can see the Rumeli Feneri lighthouse and contemplate the crashing waves.

The sun sucked away any lingering warmth and we shivered in the salty breeze… but our exhaustion left us as we ran all over the ruins, taking pictures, celebrating FINALLY reaching our goal.

It was simply beautiful.