Galata Tower Information
Watchtower of the Genoese fortifications dating from 1349, the Galata Tower stands as an obvious landmark gracing the sky, rising out of present day Beyoglu, overlooking the Golden Horn and across to the Asian shores, giving a 360 degree panoramic view of the city...
GALATA TOWER
Galata Tower was built by a Genoese colony in 1348 as a part
of their fortifications. From the early 13th century, after
the fourth crusade, there had been a Genoese settlement in
the city, as Latin Kings had been in power from 1204 - 1216.
Those who built the tower were the descendants of these crusaders,
and the Galata Tower is the only surviving remnant of that
colony today. It stands an obvious landmark gracing the sky,
rising out of present day Beyoglu, overlooking the Golden
Horn and across to the Asian shores.
Galata Tower & Galata Quarter
The surrounding quarter nurtured a whole diversity of European ethnic minorities which flourished there in the nineteenth century, among them Armenians, Venetians, Jews and Greeks… it was from this ever expanding mixed foreign quarter that Pera blossomed and bloomed to its European-ness. This lone foreign colony, virtually on the doorstep of the Golden Horn, was warily regarded by those inhabitants and hence Galata was denoted as 'Pera', derived from a Greek word meaning 'opposite shore'.
An interesting tale associated with the Galata Tower tells of how one enthusiastic inventor by name of Hazerfan Ahmet Celebi, clipped two homemade wings to himself in the sixteenth century and leapt off the upper tower environs, successfully gliding all the way across the Bosphorus to the town of Uskudar unscathed, and rendering it one of the first flights.
Today it hosts a restaurant and nightclubs but be sure to take a ride up in the towers modern lift and venture outdoors to the panoramic balcony. from which there are breathtaking views over the Golden Horn, Marmara Sea, the Bosphorus and the brightly colored tiles of Galata's own residences.
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Or see Golden Horn Tour with Galata Tower
