At the far northern end of the Bosphorus on the Asian side just before Anadolu Kavağı there is a hill with a shrine on it that was, in the 19th century, a popular place for foreign visitors and residents of Tarabya and Büyükdere to come and view the strait spread out below them. Since then, its fame has been eclipsed and today it’s mainly visited by pilgrims keen to pray at the supposed grave of the Prophet Joshua who is buried (as is often the case with particularly revered Islamic figures – think Noah (Nuh) in Cizre or Battalgazi in Seyitgazi) in an unfeasibly 17-metre-long plot.
At 198m, Yuşa Tepesi is the second highest hill in İstanbul after only Çamlıca Hill (268m), another favoured viewing point in the 19th century. But this part of the Bosphorus has been inhabited since ancient times and the mosque on the site is thought to occupy that of a lost 6th-century Greek church of Agios Panteleimon. The gravesite itself was once thought of as a gash in the earth known as the Bed of Hercules. Lord Byron, who visited Constantinople with politician and diarist, John Cam Hobhouse, in 1810, called it the Giant’s Grave in his famous poem, Don Juan.
The mosque dates back to 1755 when it was commissioned by the grand vizier Yırmısekiz Celebizade Mehmed Sait Paşa but was rebuilt after a fire in 1863. There is also a magnificent free-standing 19th-century çeşme (fountain) here.
On the hillside just below the shrine there’s a pleasant, tree-shaded cafe where you can gaze across to the Third (Yavuz Sultan Selim) Bridge and to Yoros Kalesi (castle) at Anadolu Kavagi. Stalls on the path up to the shrine sell predictable religious paraphernalia but also some edibles such as huge roundels of Trabzon bread.
Transport info
The 15A bus from Üsküdar to Andolu Kavağı has a stop at Yusa Mezarlığı just before it terminates. It’s just a short walk up the hill to the shrine. The bus is timetabled but infrequent so check the times before setting out. If you time it right you can take the coastal-hop ferry to Anadolu Kavağı, have a fish lunch, then take the bus to the shrine.
