Kanlıca Yogurt

Kanlıca is a small village on the Asian shore between the two bridges, and it has been known for its yogurt since Ottoman times - made from cows kept in the surrounding hills, set in shallow earthenware, and thick enough that a spoon stands in it. The way to eat it is at the tables on the ferry quay: a bowl arrives with a shaker of icing sugar, you dust it over the surface yourself, and you sit with the strait a metre away and the ferries coming in. That is the whole thing, and it takes twenty minutes. The village around the square has a small mosque, a few fish restaurants and the wooden waterside houses, yalıs, that line this stretch of shore. The yogurt is sold in sealed tubs to take away, and it is a standard stop on the Bosphorus ferry route, so the quay fills when a boat lands and empties again a few minutes later.

What you actually see

• The quay tables - eating with the strait alongside.
• The icing sugar - dusted over the yogurt at the table.
• The village square - the mosque and the small waterfront.
• The yalıs - wooden waterside houses along the shore.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Between ferry arrivals for a quiet table; weekends are busy with day trippers from the city.

Honest expectations

It is a twenty-minute stop, not a destination. The quay fills and empties with each ferry. Prices on the waterfront are above what the same yogurt costs in a shop.

Nearby

Anadolu Hisarı and the Küçüksu pavilion are south along the shore; Beykoz and Polonezköy are north and inland.