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Here's what you'll see on your Bosphorus
cruise, leaving Istanbul's Galata
Bridge at the mouth of the Golden
Horn:
Topkapi
Palace (Europe)
Palace No. 1: You motor out of the Golden
Horn past Topkapi
Palace, covering the hill at the tip of Saray
Burnu (Palace Point). More...
Maiden's
Tower (mid-Bosphorus)
A 12th-century Byzantine fortress
occupied the tiny islet where the 18th-century Kiz
Kulesi (also called Leander's
Tower) now stands. A tower here may
have served as a customs post. Featured
in the James Bond movie From
Russia With Love, the
tower now houses a restaurant.
Üsküdar
(Scutari; Asia)
The largest Asian district, directly
across the Bosphorus from Istanbul and Beyoglu,
was once Byzantine Chrysopolis,
the "City of Gold." Byzantine armies
mustered here for expeditions into Asia along the
fine Roman roads that started here. Ottoman armies
did the same.
Üsküdar is
now an important commercial and residential district
of greater Istanbul. The large four-towered rectangular
building south of Üsküdar is
the Selimiye Barracks (1828, 1842-53)
which served as a military hospital during the
Crimean War (1855-56). It was here that Florence
Nightingale worked to establish the practices
of modern nursing and hospital care.
Dolmabahçe
Palace (Europe)
Palace No. 2: The façade
of this great Ottoman palace
(1853) is nearly a quarter of a mile
(400 meters) long. More...
Çiragan
Palace (Europe)
Palace No. 3: Finished in
1874, the marble palace of Çiragan (CHEE-rah-AHN)
has a tragic history. Sultan Abdül
Aziz died here (1876) under
suspicious circumstances a few days
after he had been deposed. His nephew Murat
V and family were imprisoned
here in squalor by Abdül
Hamit II. In 1910, when in
use as the Ottoman parliament
building, the palace was totally destroyed
by fire. Fully restored, it now houses
meeting rooms and suites for the neighboring Çiragan
Palace Kempinski
Istanbul Hotel.
Yildiz Park & Palace (Europe)
Palace No. 4: The swath
of green forest behind Çiragan
is Yildiz ("Star")
Park. At the top of the hill,
hidden in the trees, is the Sale
("chalet") Kiosk, a
50-room alpine chalet favored
by the secretive Sultan
Abdül Hamit II.
Smaller "kiosks" (small
palaces) are set elsewhere in
the forest.
Ortaköy & Mecidiye
Mosque (Europe)
You've probably seen photos
of the Mecidiye Mosque (1854),
the graceful Ottoman baroque
mosque standing by the western pylon
of the Bosphorus Bridge. The quaint Bosphorus town
of Ortaköy is
now filled with chic galleries, cafes,
boutiques, bars and clubs—a good
place to stop for a drink or a meal
if you tour the Bosphorus on land.
More...
Bosphorus
Bridge
Ever
since the Persian emperor Darius built
his bridge of boats acoss the Bosphorus
in 490 BC, rulers of Istanbul have
dreamt of a bridge between Europe and
Asia. It was opened in 1973 on the
50th anniversary of the Turkish
Republic and put an end to decades
of car-ferry traffic delays. Tolls
paid for it in record time, and another
bridge, the Fatih, was built to its
north.
Beylerbeyi
Palace (Asia)
Palace No. 5: Like Çiragan
Palace a work of Sultan
Abdül Aziz, Beylerbeyi is
smaller but no less impressive. More...
Click
here to continue with the Northern
Bosphorus sights.
If you take the traditional
ferry's Bosphorus tour, you will
have to wait three hours at Anadolu
Kavagi for the ferry's departure
for the return to Istanbul.
If you take the TurYol
boat, you'll be back at the Galata
Bridge in less than an hour.
If you go by land, here's
what to stop and see along the European
shore.
Northern
Bosphorus Sights
Tour
of the European Shore of the Bosphorus
Bosphorus
Tour by Traditional Ferry
Bosphorus
Tour by TurYol Boat
Bosphorus
Cruise
The Bosphorus
Princes
Islands
Istanbul
Sights
Istanbul
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