Golden Horn, Istanbul

One of best ways for getting around on Golden Horn is taking the Steamer "Liman2" remorcer boat and having a joyfull cruise for 40 mnts.Departure and arrival is from Rahmi M.Koc Industrial Museum on Haskeuy coast at Golden Horn.
the tickets are abt 8,-$ for adults.

A visit to Istanbul is not complete without a traditional and unforgettable excursion by boat along the Bosphorus, that winding strait separating Europe and Asia.

The shore is lined with modern hotels and as well as old wooden villas (yali.) The best way to see the Bosphorus is to board one of the passenger boats .

The board starts at Eminonu and stopping alternately on the Asian and European sides. The round trip excursion takes about six hours and the fare is reasonable.

Golden Horn This Horn-shaped bay lies on the European side of Istanbul and is one of the best natural harbors in the world. It was very important during the Byzantine and Ottoman times, Today the bay is surrounded by parks and promenades.

The wonderful view of the Golden Horn had been the inspiration of the Artists in the ancient periods. In Fener and Balat you can find entire streets with houses, churches and Synagogues from Ottoman and Byzantine times. Moreover the Orthodox Patriarch is located at this area.

Known as the Golden Horn in the western world, the Haliç (pronounced Ha-litch) is a natural creek branching from the Bosphorus Strait and separating historic Constantinople from the newer Galata/Beyoğlu area to the north. During Byzantine times, the Golden Horn was the city's natural harbour and provided effective protection from invaders. The Golden Horn is now crossed by Galata Bridge which connects old Istanbul with Beyoğlu.

You see it all the time - from the tram as you cross the Galata Bridge; from the ferry as you cross the Bosphorus or come in from the islands; from the spice bazaar; from the Galata Tower; from the Topkapi Palace.

For me, it never ceases to give me a bit of a buzz.

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The Golden Horn is an estuary dividing the city of Istanbul.With the Sea of Marmara, the Golden Horn forms a peninsula with a deep natural harbor. This site was originally settled by ancient Greek colonists as the city of Byzantium. There were three notable times when the chain across the Horn was either broken or circumvented. In the 10th century the Vikings dragged their longships out of the Bosporus, around Galata, and relaunched them in the Horn; the Byzantines defeated them with Greek fire. In 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, Venetian ships were able to break the chain with a ram. In 1453, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, having failed in his attempt to copy the Venetians and break the chain with brute force, instead copied the tactics of the Rus', towing his ships across Galata into the estuary over greased logs.
In 1502 Leonardo da Vinci produced a drawing of a single span 720-foot (240 m) bridge as part of a civil engineering project for Sultan Beyazid II. The bridge was intended to span the Golden Horn. It was never built, but Leonardo's vision was resurrected in 2001 when a smaller bridge based on his design was constructed in Norway.
After the Fall of Constantinople to Mehmed, Greek citizens, the Greek Orthodox Church, Jews, Italian merchants, and other non-Muslims began to live along the Horn in the Phanar and Balat districts. Today the Golden Horn is settled on both sides, and there are parks along each shore. The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce is also located along the shore, as is a Muslim cemetery. The Galata Bridge, built in 1836, connects Old Istanbul with the districts of Galata and Eminönü. Two other bridges, the Atatürk Bridge and the Haliç Bridge, are located further up the Horn. Until the 1980s the Horn was a dumping ground for industrial waste, but has since been cleaned up and is a popular tourist attraction in Istanbul because of its history and beauty.

Is in fact one of the best natural harbours in the world, which is why it was a busting port in Byzantine times in those times it was closed off with a huge Iron chain, One of the links can still be seen in the Naval Museum in Besiktas, there are three theories how the Golden horn got its name, firstly when the Byzantines where defeated they dumped their Gold and treasures into the water, to stop the Turks from getting them, the second the waters where so rich with fish and less glamourous but most likely is the third the colour the water turns at sunset

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The Sirkeci Terminal is, without doubt, a tourist site that is worth visiting, but I still also consider it to have been a stop on my nerdish tour schedule. The Sirkeci Terminal was constructed in the 1880s and opened in 1890, after a decision was made, following Turkey’s defeat in the Crimean War, to connect the Ottoman Empire to European rail networks. The building is an example of European Orientalism, and, as such, relies more on European concepts of what Oriental architecture should express, rather than traditional Ottoman concepts. The Sirkeci Terminal may be famous as being a meeting place of intellectuals, writers and journalists, but it also is important in the history of railways as the terminus of the Orient Express, popularized by Agatha Christie and other writers during its pre-WWII heyday. Today, train travel has largely been overtaken by air travel, and as such the terminus is far from what it was, but it still retains commemorative plaques of the importance it once held in the railway network that drew Turkey into the European sphere.

The High Gate, also known as Ali’s Gate, is what is commonly referred to as the Sublime Porte, the seat of Ottoman Government’s highest civil servant, the Grand Vizier. This gate stands below the Seraglio Hill, on which Topkapi Palace is found. It is here that the Sultan would meet foreign dignitaries, and as such it gradually changed into the Foreign Ministry of the Sultan’s government, a refinement from its earlier use as the headquarters of the Grand Vizier. The Bab-I Ali was rebuilt five times after its initial construction in 1755, in part because of the initial use of wood. This was changed in the 1840s, when the reconstruction of the Gate employed more durable materials, although wood was still involved and thus the Gate was twice more destroyed by fire. Although the Gate contains the usual highly ornate Ottoman embellishments, as well as an interesting, gently sloping roof, it also incorporates neo-Classical elements, such as the rounded arches of both the gate and the guard posts.

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The Istanbul Lower Courts, or Istanbul Çocuk Mahkemeleri, are not, I assume, still in operation, at least not in the same location as this building. Nevertheless, the old structure caught my eye for its typical Ottoman bureaucratic architecture. The gallery over a porch at the entrance; the columns; the low arch are all somewhat reminiscent of the architecture that can be seen throughout the Balkans and indeed in Istanbul at the buildings employed by the Ottomans for their civil administration.

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Going on the Golden Horn uses the public ferries, departing from Eminonu. The departure place is tucked away from the main places, passed the buses, near a building with the sign Stork. The ferry is hourly. The fare is 1.40 TL. Journey time is 30 minutes to Golden Horn bridge at Sutluce. You can walk over the blue painted bridge to take a bus back or return by ferry, at the ferry point is a openair cafe.