mansions especially along Çankaya Caddesi, which has been described as "one of the most beautiful streets in the world". Among the best known mansions are the Con Pasa Köşkü, the Yelkencizade Köşkü, the Hacopolo Köşkü, the Fabiato Köşkü and the Mizzi Köşkü. Opened in 2010, the Museum of the Princes' Islands (Turkish: Adalar Muzesi) tells the story of the islands' people as much as of its buildings. In the 19th century the island had several well known hotels. The most conspicuous survivor is the Splendid Palace Hotel (1911) which still lords it over the waterfront with its two domes which once covered water cisterns. The pretty ferry terminal was designed by Armenian architect Mihran Azaryan in First National Architectural style in 1899 and started service in 1915. It once housed the island's cinema. Not far inland is a clock tower erected in 1923, the year of the founding of the Turkish Republic. Beside it is Fayton Meydanı which was, until 2020, filled with phaetons and their horses waiting to take visitors on a tour of the island. St George's Day Pilgrimage Every year on St George's Day (23 April) visitors flock to the island to take part in a pilgrimage to the monastery of Hagios Georgios Koudanas on Yücetepe. Both Christians and Muslims take part in arcane rituals such as winding thread all the way along the path leading to the monastery. Since the date coincides with Turkey's Children and National Sovereignty Day public holiday (and sometimes with the Easter tourism period) the crowds attending can be enormous. Famous residents of Büyükada The artist Fahrelnissa Zeid was born on the island in 1901. Her brother Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı ('the Fisherman of Halikarnassos') also spent much of his youth on the island. After his deportation from the Soviet Union, Leon Trotsky settled on what was then Prinkipo in April 1929 and lived there until July 1933. While there, Trotsky lived in a house called the Yanaros mansion which is now in ruins. Pope John XXIIi (Angelo Guiseppe Roncali), the "Turkish Pope", lived here as papal nuncio in 1933-34 Con Paşa AKA Trasivolos Yannaros who established the first ferry services to the island Aliye Berger, Turkish artist Füreyya, Turkish ceramicist Mine Urgan, Turkish writer Gallery References External links Büyükada at Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality website Büyük Ada Travel Notes Islands of the Sea of Marmara Islands of Turkey Seaside resorts in Turkey Tourism