Maltepe Sahil Parkı (Orhangazi Şehir Parkı)

Maltepe Coastal Park is a seaside park on the Anatolian side, between Küçükyalı and Dragos, stretching over a wide area reclaimed from the Marmara shore. Maltepe has roughly seven kilometres of coast on the Sea of Marmara, and this park is the widest and most open part of that coast. On maps the northern section of the park also appears under the name Orhangazi City Park. On the sea side there is a long walkway protected by rock fill; on the land side there are lawns, planted trees and open squares on a scale that can hold very large crowds. The shoreline runs east towards Dragos Hill and west towards Küçükyalı and Bostancı; the Princes' Islands lie directly opposite. The story of this shore begins with a beach. Süreyya İlmen Paşa, who left the army for business and also built the Süreyya Opera House in Kadıköy, was a wealthy entrepreneur who lived from 1874 to 1955. He had a garden on the Maltepe shore where he grew vegetables; in 1939, at the insistence of the district governor of Kartal and the mayor of Maltepe, he decided to turn it into a beach. Construction began on 20 June 1939, was interrupted by the Second World War, and the beach opened on 8 June 1946. With its three-hundred-metre sandy beach, two classes of changing cabins, a casino and a forty-two-room hotel, Süreyya Beach was a modern facility for its time; in summer there were orchestra and dance evenings. The State Railways first opened a temporary halt in front of the beach and stopped the trains for one minute, then built a permanent station; the fact that today's Marmaray station carries the name Süreyya Plajı comes from that memory. An asphalt road built by Governor Lütfi Kırdar connected the beach to Bağdat Caddesi. The Bakireler Anıtı, the Monument of the Virgins that became the symbol of the beach, was built on a rock some fifty metres offshore. Designed by the architect Münci Tangör, the structure consists of a dome 3.5 metres across resting on six columns; it is four metres high and in its centre stood a statue of Venus made by Münci Tangör's sister, the sculptor Türkan Tangör. The sources differ on its date; some write that it was begun in 1939 and completed in 1946, others that it opened in 1953. Like its European counterparts, it was inspired by the idea of a temple visited by young women who wished to marry. The Venus statue was stolen during the coast-road works of the 1990s; in the early 2010s the reclamation of the sea left the monument on dry land, and for a while it stood in the middle of a car park. The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality moved the monument to its new place on 24 August 2023; today it stands in a small square that bears its name. The silhouette of the monument is on the logo of the Maltepe municipality, and the architecture of the district's Türkan Saylan Cultural Centre was designed with it in mind. This white dome left over from the beach era is the most photographed spot in the park. From Byzantine and Ottoman times until the 1970s this shore was a summer retreat from the city. In the Byzantine period the area was known as Bryas; the sources record that in the ninth century Emperor Theophilos built a palace here inspired by the palaces of Baghdad and that its ruins lie at Küçükyalı. The name Maltepe itself comes from a legend of treasure connected with Dragos. To visit the park, get off at the Marmaray station of Süreyya Plajı; the Bakireler Anıtı and the coastal park lie in the station's immediate surroundings. Go to the monument first, then step onto the walkway along the water and walk east, towards Dragos. Along the way you have wide lawns on one side and rock fill and open sea on the other; in the afternoon the sun is behind you and the islands stand out. At sunset the sea side of the walkway fills up; for photographs choose the spots that look west, towards Bostancı. The park is open ground with little shade; in summer come early in the morning or towards evening, and bring a hat and water. On windy days the waves come over the rock fill; walk a little inland from the sea edge of the path. It offers a flat, long line for cycling and running; the coast road continues west to Bostancı and east as far as Kartal and Tuzla. For transport, the Marmaray stations of Süreyya Plajı and Maltepe are close to the park. From Süreyya Plajı station the buses 4, 16D and 133T depart, as do minibuses towards Bostancı and Pendik. From the Şehir Hatları pier on the Maltepe shore there are sailings to Büyükada, Heybeliada, Burgazada and Kınalıada; check the current timetable on the Şehir Hatları website. Bağdat Caddesi runs north of the park, between Bostancı and Pendik.