| Golden Horn |
 This four-mile-long, horn-shaped inlet glitters like precious metal at sunset. But its strategic value is also worth its weight in gold. Protected from the prevailing north winds, the Golden Horn has served as a natural harbor for centuries—it's steeped in the history of Istanbul.Th is was once the main commercial port of Constantinople, and a base for the Byzantine fleet. To block enemy fleets sailing into the heart of the city, and to more effectively levy taxes on ships, the Byzantines hung a massive chain across the entrance of the Horn (you can still see some of these historic links in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. The chain was breached only a couple times, by the Vikings (10th century), and by the Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade (1204). In 1453, when the young Ottoman sultan Mehmet set out to capture Constantinople, he knew it was crucial to gain control of the Horn. Rather than breaking the chain, he decided to bypass it altogether. His troops pulled his fleet of ships out of the waters of the Bosphorus, slid them on greased logs over the hills through what later became the New District, and launched them back into the Horn—all in just one night. During Europe's Industrial Revolution, the Ottoman Empire was slow to adapt to a fast-changing world. It began the industrial race when it was already too late, then rushed to catch up, often without careful planning. This meant that the construction of Istanbul's industrial infrastructure—especially along the Golden Horn—was disorganized. The Horn became more and more polluted, mainly by industrial plants and shipyards built along the banks. But in the 1980s, a clever Istanbul mayor had a great gimmick for cleaning things up: He had light blue eyes, so he got people on board by saying his project would make the Horn as blue as his eyes. Factories were closed down, renovated into convention centers, or moved outside the city. Rotting buildings along the water with no historic significance were torn down, and the space was converted into public parks. The entire infrastructure of the area was renewed—a process that's still ongoing. • Now look farther down the Golden Horn (with your back to the Bosphorus), to see the... Bridges over the HornFour bridges connect the Old Town to the New District over the Golden Horn. The first one you see is the lowlying Atatürk Bridge, on floating platforms. Beyond that is the taller main highway bridge, called Haliç (hah-leech)—which is also the local name for the Golden Horn. The old Galata Bridge was the first and, for decades, the only bridge spanning the Horn—it's the one you see in historic postcards from Istanbul. But the huge platforms it was built on blocked water circulation, worsening the Horn's pollution woes. So, in 1994, this historic bridge was replaced with the new Galata Bridge—the one you're standing on. A public outcry of nostalgia eventually compelled city leaders to reassemble the original bridge farther down the Horn (between the Atatürk and Haliç bridges—not visible from here). (s3) |