GALATA, BEYOGLU AND THE ASIAN PART
Galata, Beyoglu and the Asian part
Crossing the characteristic bridge that connects the old city to the new one and brings within it many restaurants and cafes, you will find yourself in the Galata area.
After visiting the iconic tower and the surrounding area, we reached Taksim Square walking in the busy Istiklal Caddesi, and finally we went down the hill towards the Besiktas district, where we visited the Dolmabahçe palace and the naval museum. The next day, our last one available to visit the city, we went by ferry to the Asian side.
Galata Tower and surroundings
In 1261 the republic of Genoa received the hilly area of Galata, on the other bank of the Golden Horn, from the Byzantine emperor Michael Palaeologus, as a reward for having defended Constantinople from the crusaders. The Genoese, on the ruins of a previous tower erected by Justinian, built the famous Galata Tower and fortified their city-state.
The tower, 61 meters high, is one of the symbols of the city; over the centuries it has been used as a prison, an astronomical observation point and even a launch pad for the first flight pioneers! In this regard, it is said that the aviator Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi launched himself from the tower: equipped with large artificial wings, he crossed the Bosphorus and landed in the Uskudar district.
Once you reach the upper balcony you will have a magnificent view of the city skyline, where you will see the profiles of the mosques alternating with historic and modern neighborhoods. Inside the tower it is possible to see some very heavy links of the chain that once protected the city from naval attacks.
Once down from the tower, in the garden of the good restaurant "Il Cortile" we saw the remains of the ancient walls, and wandering through the streets we found the ancient city gate which has a marble slab bearing the cross of Saint George, the symbol of Genoa (unfortunately the door was under restoration).
Also in the area, heading south towards the Golden Horn, there is the staircase of the Jewish Kamondo family, which with its particular shapes became famous thanks to the photographic contribution of Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Beyoglu and surroundings
Istiklal Caddesi, the main avenue connecting Taksim Square and Tunel Square, a stone's throw from the Galata Tower, is an uninterrupted river of people, one of the places most visited by tourists and Turks taking their weekend stroll.
Traveled along its entire length by the iconic red tram, which nostalgically takes us back to the era of Turkish independence, Istanbul's great artery manages to capture with its lights and large windows the people who crowd it, eager to buy a confectionery delicacy or a fashionable dress.
This modernity contrasts with the historic buildings, the neo-Gothic Catholic church of San Antonio, the street kiosks with corn on the cob and roasted chestnuts, the antique shops that preserve furnishings and memories of the past, the traditional restaurants and the historic pastry shops.
Istiklal also has a face that shows itself in the evening, the made-up and combed one of those who want to experience the night: the secondary streets that flow into the main one are the most important destination for the city's nightlife, where hundreds of bars and evening clubs offer alcohol until the first light of dawn, assisted by kebab and soup sellers who bring the blood alcohol level back under control.
Welcome to the place of tolerance, welcome to the place where fundamentalism collapses, a sort of citadel where demonstrations were carried out towards the rights of the LGBTQ communities, women and workers, right in the middle of a country that is certainly not fully oriented towards openness.
Dolmabahçe palace and naval museum
From Taksim Square we took Inönü Caddesi, we went down to the Besiktas Vodafone Stadium, and from there we continued to the luxurious Dolmabahçe palace, which can only be visited with a compulsory guided tour (no photos inside the palace).
Sultan Abdülmecid I, eager to stay in a sumptuous palace based on the style of the European royals of the period, understood that the medieval Topkapi palace did not lend itself to a radical transformation by the new nineteenth-century standards, and therefore ordered the construction of the new palace near a bay along the banks of the Bosphorus, in the Besiktas district, which was gradually embellished with imperial gardens.
The palace, the largest of its kind in all of Turkey, consists of 3 buildings: one for men, one for women and one for court life. The palace occupies an area of 45,000 m², 285 rooms and 44 reception rooms are characterized by the intertwining of the Ottoman and Rococo styles.
During the visit, of notable interest are:
The Bohemian crystal chandelier hanging in the center of the entrance hall: with the distinction of being the largest chandelier in the world, and weighing 4.5 tons, it was given as a gift by the English Queen Victoria.
The room where the first president of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Atatürk died on 10 November 1938. The clock is symbolically stopped at 9:05, the time of death of the beloved and still lamented president.
Leaving the palace and walking along its entire perimeter in a northerly direction you arrive at the Deniz Müzesi Sanat Galerisi (Naval Museum), where there are many gulets from the Ottoman period, embellished with carved and painted ornaments.
Asian part
On the last day at our disposal to visit the city we went to the Asian side.
To get to Üsküdar we took one of the many ferries that sail on the Bosphorus and skirt the famous and thousand-year-old Greek-Byzantine tower of Leander, unfortunately closed for restoration.
In the Asian part, away from the spotlight of tourism, we walked along the main road that turns south and arrives in the center of the lively Kadıköy district, where it is very pleasant to wander and taste the savory and confectionery delights that the historic shops and stalls offer present in the main market.
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