Prince island: Sivriada

In the Sea of Marmara, close to Istanbul, you will find The Prince's Islands (Turkish: Prens Adaları, literally “Islands of the Princes”). They are named this way, because they once served as places of exile for princes, members of royal families and other high-ranking figures who had fallen out of favour. During the Byzantine era, unwanted heirs and deposed princes were sent here, far from Constantinople (now Istanbul). Later, under the Ottomans, disgraced relatives of the sultan or other notables were also exiled here — hence the name. Besides the busy islands, there are also small natural islands. We visited one, called Sivriada. We found a lovely small harbour here to stay in. And 4 other boats with Turkish locals arrived later that day, probably from Istanbul, for a day of fishing or barbecuing — the grills appeared in the late afternoon. Very cosy! Look at the amazing colors of the high mountain, which looks like a collapsed vulcano. We flew from the litte harbor with our drone to the mountain and took a look over the sea towards the other Prince's islands.