The Walls of Istanbul

Saturday began with another hike doen the hill from our host's home in Kuzguncuk to the port wharf to catch the passenger ferry to Eminonu (the main port of the older part of Istanbul). Once we arrived there, we hopped a bus 2.5 miles up the Golden Horn (the water inlet that separates the old town from the new town on the European side of the city). The goal was to reach the ancient city walls and adjacent cemeteries. The photo above is of the city walls where they met the water in ancient times. Now there is a boulevard and a greenbelt between this point and the water. The municipality has created a nice park-like atmosphere around this part of the wall. In other places it is more decrepit.


Pigeons rather than archers occupy the arrow slits in the walls today. The construction of these walls is magnificent. In places it is still evident how logs were used to shore up the structure of the masonry, and how different masonry techniques were used in layers for structural strenghth. In many places damage has been repaired, and it is obvious when a newer construction technique has been used to patch old sections of the walls.


While I was walking along the outer edge of the walls, I kept thinking about how many people had been there in the many ages past. Then I came across this inscription in Greek. I wish I could read it, but imagine it says something like "Tourist entrance 200 yards to the left"!


In places, the walls were shored up by buttresses. This particular buttress had a five-foot archway in the bootom, to encourage drainage I imagine!


Also along the exterior edges of the walls were many cemeteries. These are still in use for modern burials, where the tombstones are more plain and utilize the Roman alphabet to eulogize the occupant. Older tombs are identified by ornate headstones with Arabic script. The revered early 20th century Turkish leader Ataturk was responsible for instilling many Europeanisms into the Turkish culture. One of them was to convert from Arabic script to the Roman alphabet.