Cosmopolitan Istanbul has straddled the Bosporus in a way that has rendered the city and the strait synonymous. But alongside the passage of water between the Black and the Marmara seas an explorer can find some utterly un-Istanbul-like highlights, which differ immensely from a standard sightseeing tour of the strait.

One of them is Rumeli Feneri.

In theory at least, this piece of land is part of the Istanbul megapolis, but even the most detailed travel guides fail to mention its name. And even if you know for sure that such a place exists, you'll need to put some effort into finding it. Rumeli Feneri is on the sea shore but is impossible to reach by taking the picturesque road along the European coast of the Bosporus. Just before you get near the place the road ends at the solemn gate of a Turkish military base. The road from Istanbul – the Istanbul worshipped by tourists, bohemians, poets and historians – to Rumeli Feneri cuts through inland, but you have to be prepared to rough it for a while, and even overcome some challenges during your quest. After all, this bit of land is located at Europe's very end. In fact, it is the end of Europe.

Rumeli Feneri has an idyllic beauty that rather befits a postcard from the Cote d'Azur than the tip of a continent. A cape with cliffs projects into a photogenic sea. A white lighthouse rises on the promontory and it is this that has given the place its name, as Rumeli Feneri translates as "European Lighthouse."

There's a deep cove near the cape that's full of yachts and fishing boats, all white too, or at least most of them.

Rumeli Feneri is a border not only in relation to Europe as a continent. The lighthouse is one of the two points that delimit the Black Sea border of the Bosporus. The other is the lighthouse on the opposite shore, which, logically, bears the name of Anadolu Feneri, the "Asian Lighthouse."

The Rumeli Feneri lighthouse is a relatively new construction, the product of the attempt at building modern infrastructure that the Ottoman Empire started during the Crimean War of 1853-56. This military conflict was central for the popularisation of a string of technological and intellectual novelties in the empire. Its European lands were full of French and English troops, who introduced the locals to concepts such as theatre, and musical instruments such as the violin. Sultan Abdülmecid I (1839-61), for his part, recognised that his empire was falling behind Europe and tried to catch up speedily.

Building the lighthouses Rumeli and Anadolu was part of this effort. Communications and navigation in the Black Sea were in need of improvement, and the sultan decreed accordingly.