In the 1860s, a group of Circassian and Abaza origins came to Maşukiye to establish relations with the Ottoman Palace in order to prevent the Russian Revolution. Murat Bey, who came among the Circassians, is known as the founder of Maşukiye in 1862-1863.

During the War of 1993, it was observed that a group called Mahde (Mohti) came from Batum via Sapanca. In the first years of its establishment, Maşukiye was known as 105 households. It is known that later in 1950, a group of Muhadil mahajirs came from Romania, but most of them did not stay in Maşukiye and went to Bursa and surrounding provinces.

It is known that Kazım ÖÇBE, Musa EJDEROĞLU, İbrahim EJDEROĞLU, Hüsamettin ÖZKAYA, Hayri ÇETİN, Mehmet BOZDAĞ, Erdal ÖZKAYA, Mehmet SANCAK, Mustafa YAZICI served as Mukhtars in Maşukiye.

Maşukiye gained municipality status on 7 JUNE 1987 and currently has two neighborhoods, Çınarlı and Soğuksu, with 2600 houses.

The headman of Soğuksu District is Zülküf AYBADIN and the headman of Çınarlı District is Mete KARAKUŞ.

Places to Visit

Istanbul’s backyard, one of the few holiday resorts with highway connection. Green Paradise Maşukiye, located at the foothills of Samanlı Mountain Kartepe, is a source of healing. “Trout Valley” is a peaceful town among restaurants, farms, picnic areas, viewing terraces and springs built on the waterfalls formed by Yayla Stream flowing through the forest.

Everything is Beautiful Here! Being alone with nature, walking around the forest, stepping on the ground, breathing fresh air, listening to water and bird sounds and relieving the tiredness of the week is often an inevitable need.

We are going to Maşukiye, a place preferred by those living in Istanbul, Adapazarı, Kocaeli and Bursa, today, when even economical day trips are luxurious. Maşukiye, with its name coming from Maşuk (lover), is a town of Kocaeli, as the local people say, “Whoever comes here falls in love.”

The region looks like a garden of paradise with its clean air, more than 20 different green colors, dense vegetation, walking areas, waterfalls, waterfalls and springs, and bird sounds mixed with the sound of water.

The Trout Valley, where the Yayla Stream coming from the forest in Maşukiye flows, offers long-awaited opportunities for both relaxing and eating, with picnic areas, restaurants and a trout production farm. 7 restaurants open all year round, where families can dine under the shade of plane trees, oaks, hornbeams, chestnuts and linden trees. It is a favorite among families as well as youth groups, retirees and those who organize tours to Maşukiye.

If you are coming to the region for a picnic, you can pay the daily rental fee and sit at one of the wooden tables, prepare the picnic equipment you brought with you, light the barbecue and enjoy relaxing in the hammock you set up in the trees. Aside from the youth groups playing volleyball, those who joyfully go on waterfall walks and exploring the surroundings, if you wonder who will deal with coal, fire and smoke now, then come to one of the 7 restaurants lined up by the stream.

Some of the restaurants, which offer indoor and outdoor sections, offer alcoholic menus and some offer non-alcoholic menus.

The specialty of the restaurants that host guests until late in the evening is the dishes cooked on clay tiles brought from Bilecik Kınık. To present to the guests the local products they buy from the villages that deal with animal husbandry and produce butter and cheese on the opposite shore of Sapanca, along with trout produced in concrete ponds to prevent the smell of soil from permeating the meat with the spring waters coming from Kartepe in the valley.

Restaurant menus include cheeses cooked on bricks and stone ovens over wood fire, cultured mushrooms, grilled varieties and salads. Fish, meatballs, cheese, grilled chicken, steak, portions, salads, desserts and soft drinks are economically priced in Kiremite.

Cultivated mushrooms taken daily from the production farm in Yanık Village, village cheeses brought from Uzun Yayla, and live trout obtained from Mersu Trout Farm are flavored with the transfer of smoke in a wood oven where oak and hornbeam are burned. When black oven bread and salads with Edremit Bay’s special olive oil are added to the spring waters, the provocative smells that emerge in the valley constantly whet your appetite.

This time, the smell of grilled chicken, whose meat has been soaked in extra virgin olive oil and whose meat has softened, mixes with the smell of thyme and grill that spreads around the area while eating the fish.

Maşukiye, one of the few towns in Turkey that can be reached by highway, is considered the first choice of those who get fresh air all day long and enjoy relaxing with economical and delicious food, as well as those who buy land and build beautiful summer houses and farmhouses on it.

While clean air acts as a source of healing for the elderly and heart patients, the waters filled from springs such as Dalar Batmaz, Akpınar, Gümüşpınar, Melek Su, which have digestive properties, and the taste of the tea brewed with this water are talked about. The lime-free and ice-cold water ensures that the trout’s meat is firm and healthy.

Those who have had the opportunity to eat by stepping on the ground must have noticed that all the tiredness and stress disappear from their bodies with the sound of water mixed with the non-stop chorus of birds, and they have become so accustomed to coming to Maşukiye every week.

Guests who come to Maşukiye do not forget to visit the souvenir shop on their return. Stating that the most popular gifts among the gifts are wooden massage balls, tile containers and hammocks that are applied by walking around the back area, Hayati Kelsoy emphasizes that they provide indoor and outdoor flowers and garden landscaping services for houses with gardens in the region.

There are also landscape architects who make natural arrangements using materials such as stone, wood and trees in the gardens of summer houses and villas in Maşukiye and its surroundings.

Dorat Ciftlik Restaurant

Ideal for those interested in horseback riding and other nature lovers, novice riders can take lessons from the professional team at Dorat Çiftlik Restaurant.

For more experienced riders, guided forest tours lasting 1.5 hours are available. Trekking tours can be organized with prior notice.

View of Sapanca and Maşukiye from Kartepe, the Roof of the Gulf… Kartepe, located within the borders of Kocaeli province and reaching an altitude of 1606 meters, is a lush picnic area covered with pine, beech, linden and hazelnut trees, colorful mountain flowers and rhododendrons. When you come to Kuzu Plateau, one of the most important features of the mountain, the lush green vegetation in the panorama and the insatiable beauty of the sea and the lake stand out.

Sudden rises above sea level cause headaches.

Its difference from the mountains in other touristic regions is that it is one of the few mountains with a sea view that is close to big cities and allows winter sports.

Those who go up to the top of Kartepe for cruise and picnic purposes will encounter the deep blue Lake Sapanca over the emerald green forest sea along the way, and those who go to the left side of the mountain will encounter a giant hotel and apart hotel buildings, the construction of which started years ago and was completed in 2005 to make Kartepe a tourism center where winter sports can be done.

They will see ski slopes prepared for descent by cutting down the trees extending from the point where the TV reflectors at the summit are located to the hotel area, making the necessary arrangements. Those who look towards the western façade of the hotel, which is 1.5 to 2 hours away from the giant metropolis such as the Marmara region and Maşukiye, Istanbul, and which is accessible by highway and attracts tourists throughout the year, will see the shores of Izmit and the sea, known in history as the “Gulf of Astakozlar”.

Although the mountain road is wide, there are ramps and sharp bends along the way. Railings are attached to cliffs. In this way, many picnicking families and motorcycle enthusiasts can climb up to Kuzu Yayla with a kind of safari pleasure… The air of the mountain gives you vitality, increases your appetite and helps you store energy.

The cool and fresh air, dominated by the perfume of nature, has enough oxygen to burn your nostrils while breathing, and has an enviable scent that can be canned and sold. The blood of those who breathe the mountain air for 21 days, which is the cure period, is renewed, they become like babies, and their faces turn into apple cheeks.!

The mountain, where nomads stayed in the summer until the 1970s, is also known as Addressli Mountain among the public. Kartepe, where almost every place and every stop is named, is known with names such as Muşmula Pınar, Köy Yeri, Masrapalı Su, Domuz Batağı, Birinci Külübe Stream, Suspension Bridge, Bear Bed, Osman Efendi Suyu, Muhammet Dere Yolu, Kuzu Yayla.

History of Kocaeli

Izmit and its surroundings, which are the crossroads of the world’s important roads, hosted a settlement from prehistoric times to 3000 BC. Previously, the Phrygians. Later in the 12th century, a group of immigrants who set out from the Greek city of Megara to search for a new place for themselves founded the city they called “Astaragoz” in the current Başiskele location.

After the Thracian King Lysmakhos destroyed Astaragos, a new city called Nicomedia was founded on today’s Izmit.

At the end of the 2nd century, Nicomedia was captured by the Seljuks and remained under the occupation of the Latins for a while. The city, which passed back to the Seljuks, was taken over by Akçakoca, the governor of Adapazarı and Hendek regions, during the time of Orhan Gazi, and thus the city came under Ottoman rule. The city, which was initially Iznikmid, meaning the next door neighbor of Iznik, turned into Izmit over time. Izmit, which remained connected to Istanbul until 1888, became a separate city after this date. After the declaration of the Republic, it became the center of Kocaeli province.