🎂🔪 A Rainy Weekend in Büyükada: Celebrating My Birthday
A personal account of a birthday weekend getaway to Büyükada, exploring the island, enjoying the hotel and restaurant, and reflecting on simple pleasures despite rainy weather.
Over the weekend of March 28–29, my wife made a reservation at a hotel & restaurant on Büyükada, one of the Princes' Islands (Prinkipo), to celebrate my 53rd birthday. We arrived there around 4 PM. Since it was raining, the first thing we did was settle into a tea garden right across from the pier. After resting for a while and realizing the rain wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, we headed to the hotel.
After a short rest in our room, we went out again. It had been many years since we last visited the island. And yet, it makes you wonder… why do we keep ourselves away from such a beautiful place that’s only an hour away, even for a simple day trip?
Work, fatigue, the habit of working even on Saturdays, and spending Sundays at home… Perhaps it’s also the comfort of already living in a house with a sea view. If we hadn’t started paying more attention to walking and being active last year, we probably wouldn’t have even considered a trip like this.
The weather did dampen our mood a little. Especially considering that just the day before, on Friday, it had been clear and mild. But I guess some things come down to luck.
With umbrellas in hand, we walked through the market area, nearby streets around the hotel, and the neighborhoods filled with historic mansions. We played a small game among ourselves: “If we were to buy a mansion here, which one would we choose?” We eventually settled on a three-story building a bit uphill, right at a crossroads. To us, it was the most beautiful one in the area.
We decided not to go any further uphill and instead had dinner at the hotel’s garden restaurant. We hadn’t expected it to be that chilly—we did feel a bit cold. But the surprise live music, along with the delicious appetizers and dishes, made the evening truly enjoyable despite everything.
Since the hotel building is actually a converted wooden mansion, the sound insulation wasn’t ideal. Footsteps from the upper floor were quite noticeable and made the night a bit tiring for us.
We woke up slightly sleep-deprived the next morning. After breakfast, we checked out. We had planned to explore the island a bit more, but the weather didn’t really allow it. So we decided to take the first ferry back. We spent the remaining time at a coffee shop across from the pier.
We had hoped the weather in Kadıköy would be better, but it wasn’t much different. So we gave up on the idea of visiting the market and headed straight home.
Glad I was born.