Two Days in Istanbul

Second Day

Across the Golden Horn is a neighborhood called Beyoglu, a hill of narrow streets and old buildings. This area was settled by Genoese merchants in the 14th and 15th centuries, when they became a major commercial and maritime presense in Constantinople, vying with the Venetians for commercial control. This was a self-governing colony in the last days of the Byzantine Empire, and it remained an Italian enclave long after the Turkish conquest.

I walked down to the Golden Horn. There were a bunch of ferries, and I got on one that I thought would take me across to Beyoglu. It didn't. It took me to Asia, across the Sea of Marmara. Then I got on another ferry that took me back to the same spot. Then I took a bus to Taksim, a neighborhood of embassies and international stores and banks and such, where I ran into this demonstration. I could only make out the words "NATO" and "Afghanistan." I couldn't understand the chants.

I walked down Iskital Caddesi until I found the Galata Tower.

In the 17th century a guy named Hezârfen Ahmet Çelebi fashioned some strap-on wings, jumped off the tower and flew across the Bosphoros.

Sultan Murat IV awarded the flyer with a purse of gold, then exiled him to Algiers, thinking him too clever and dangerous to keep around.

Galata Tower
This was built by the Genoese in the 14th century and has been damaged and repaired several times since then.
It stands out from the Old City or from the ferry to Asia (top photo). It offers spectacular city views:

Looking across the Golden Horn

Looking across the Bosphorus

Looking toward the Sea of Marmara
Click on the thumbnails to see larger pix

First Day in Istanbul