Tarabya

Lonely Planet review

Originally called Therapia for its healthy climate, the little cove of Tarabya on the European shore has been a favourite summer watering place for İstanbul's well-to-do for centuries, though contemporary developments such as the horrendous multi-storey Grand Hotel Tarabya right on the promontory have poisoned some of its charm. For an account of Therapia in its heyday, read Harold Nicolson's 1921 novel Sweet Waters.

Nicholson, who is best known as Vita Sackville-West's husband, served as the third Secretary in the British Embassy in Constantinople in 1912 to '14, the years of the Balkan wars, and clearly knew Therapia well. In the novel, the main character Eirene, who was clearly based on Vita, spent her summers here.