Kocaeli from the Gulf to the Summit
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Kocaeli is usually a province people drive through, yet it has a line running from the shore of the gulf up to sixteen hundred metres, and this route follows it. You begin at the clock tower that serves as the city's emblem, move to a classical Ottoman complex, then to a village along a stream and finally to a summit overlooking the Marmara. Four stops, seventy kilometres, a full day. The change in altitude leaves the top several degrees cooler than the bottom.
Route Stops
Izmit Clock Tower.
Raised in 1901, the tower is the city's meeting point, and its survival of the 1999 earthquake gives it a particular meaning. The park around it and the shore promenade are the right place to begin the day.
Çoban Mustafa Pasha Complex.
West to Gebze. Completed in 1523, the complex comprises a mosque, madrasa, soup kitchen, caravanserai and tomb, and survives whole; one of the few places that shows how such a complex actually functioned.
Maşukiye.
Turn southeast to the foot of Kartepe. Trout restaurants and tea gardens run along the stream, some with tables directly over the water. The right stop for lunch.
Kartepe.
A paved road reaches the summit. On clear days Lake Sapanca, the Gulf of İzmit and the Marmara appear together; seeing from above the line you have travelled since morning closes the day.
