My favorite is definitely the Büyükada which is the largest and the most beautiful one. As it is too crowded on weekend, I recommend you go there during weekdays. Its village has a number of charming residences surrounded by beautifully designed small gardens. One of these is the Iliasko Yalı Köşkü at the foot of Hamlacı Street, which was during the years 1929–33 the home of Leon Trotsky when he was living in exile on Büyükada. It was also the place that he wrote his autobiography and began his History of the Russian Revolution.

There are two Greek churches in the village; The church of the Dormition of the Mother of God and the Church of St Dimitros. There is one more church named Hagia Yorgi in the rural side of the island. The 6th-century Church is regarded as one of the most vital ancient Christian pilgrimages in Turkey. It is believed that prayers and wishes made at this church come true.

The island consists of two large hills separated in the middle by a broad valley, so that the road around it makes a figure eight. You can make the tour by fayton, the Büyük, or Grand Tour, going all the way round the island and the Küçük, or Short Tour, going around the northern half.

Halki is the second largest island in the archipelago. There are two important schools of rather different sorts in the island, architectures of which are both remarkable. The elder school, which is located at the two summits of the northern hill of the island, was the principal theological school of the Greek Orthodox Church. The school was built by a famous 19th century Ottoman-Greek architect, Periklis Fotiadis. The building has an impressive main entrance with beautiful marble stairs and pillars. It reminds, in this regard, entrance of a monumental temple that belongs to the era of the ancient Greece. The younger one is the Turkish Naval College which is at the water’s edge near the landing stage. The white main building of the school is worth to see with its little towers at the top and the elegant geometrical stairs at the front.

There are dozens of large and small churches at the island. My favorite is Haghios Georgios. The garden of the church is so mesmerizing. There are pines, cypresses and other trees embowering the picturesque building of the monastery. The foundation year of the temple is unknown but believed to have been founded between the years 1586-1593. It is still functioning, though with only two monks in the residence.

There is also a tiny, elegant museum at the Refah Şehitler Street dedicated to the memory of Ismet Inonu, the first prime minister and later the second president of the Turkish Republic.

Burgaz is a very small village, fertile and well-wooded, and thus very pleasant to wander about on. There are a number of fine houses of the late Ottoman and early Republican eras. Sait Faik Abasıyanık, the famous Turkish writer of the 20th century, lived in a house at the Çayır Aralığı Sokağı which is now open as a museum honouring his memory.

The most attractive monumental building in the village is the Greek church of St. John the Baptist, built in 1899. There are also St. George Karyptis and the monastery of the Transfiguration of Christ, both of which, despite the conventional wisdom of the native people that the temples are built during the time of the Byzantine Empire, are built in 16th and 17th centuries in the time of the Ottoman Empire.