Where to Stay in Maltepe, İstanbul

What is Maltepe known for?

Maltepe holds the Monastery of Satyros and the Maltepe Ceneviz Kalesi, along with the Başıbüyük Church and the Agios Nikolas Greek Orthodox Church, on ground that runs down to the Sea of Marmara between Kadıköy and Kartal. The Bakireler Anıtı stands among them. Ataşehir closes the district off to the northwest.

What are the main landmarks in Maltepe?

The Monastery of Satyros is the oldest name attached to Maltepe, and the Maltepe Ceneviz Kalesi is the fortified survival on the same shore. Churches follow. The Agios Nikolas Greek Orthodox Church and the Başıbüyük Church are the two that carry names.

The Bakireler Anıtı is the district's public monument, and between it and the older ruins Maltepe covers a long stretch of the İstanbul Province coastline without concentrating its sights in one place.

What is the history of Maltepe?

The Monastery of Satyros is the district's deepest root. A monastic house on this shore of the Sea of Marmara points to occupation long before Maltepe existed as an administrative unit, and the Maltepe Ceneviz Kalesi adds a defensive layer to the same stretch of coast. What the monastery served, and for how long, is not carried in the district's public record.

Greek Orthodox worship left its own mark, in the Agios Nikolas Greek Orthodox Church and in the Başıbüyük Church. The record thins after that. Maltepe became a municipality in 1992.

That set the present district inside İstanbul Province, on the northern shore of the Sea of Marmara with Kadıköy to the west, Kartal to the east and Ataşehir to the northwest. Kadıköy on one side and Kartal on the other are adjacent districts of the same city, so the lines between them are administrative rather than visible. Boundaries came late; the ground did not. Turkey's administrative map treats Maltepe as one of the districts strung along this coastline, between the Kadıköy side and the Kartal side, with the Bakireler Anıtı among its public markers.

The Monastery of Satyros predates all of it.

Where is Maltepe?

Maltepe faces south onto water. The district takes in a stretch of the northern shore of the Sea of Marmara, with Kadıköy adjoining it to the west, Kartal to the east and Ataşehir to the northwest, so its only open side is the water. Inland the built ground continues without a break into the neighbouring districts of İstanbul Province.

Only the coastline is a real edge.

What is the climate of Maltepe?

The Sea of Marmara sets the terms. Water along the whole southern edge of Maltepe keeps the coldest and hottest stretches of the year from running as far as they do inland, and the breeze off it is what the seafront blocks are worth having for. Inland it is warmer.

The streets back toward Ataşehir and the Başıbüyük Church lose that moderation, which is the difference between one part of the district and another in August.

How do you get to Maltepe?

Everything arrives along the coast. Maltepe lies between Kadıköy to the west and Kartal to the east on the northern shore of the Sea of Marmara, which puts it on the through route that links the districts of this side of İstanbul. Ataşehir lies inland to the northwest.

Inside the district the Monastery of Satyros, the Maltepe Ceneviz Kalesi and the Bakireler Anıtı are scattered rather than clustered, so seeing them takes local transport rather than a walk.