Galata tower in Istanbul is the best place for a marvellous panoramic view over the Golden Horn, Bosphorus and city. Six years before, I went to Galata tower to attend a Turkish show at night-time. I could see lights from buildings, dotted across the horizon, and the lights of traffic moving, but that was it, and I wanted to return during the day. So, a return visit to Istanbul last month meant the Genoese tower was on my list of places to go.
Visiting Galata Tower in Istanbul
After standing in a queue for half an hour, I made it through the doors, paid my ticket money, and stood in another line for the lifts. Finally, I came out of the lifts, walked up a winding staircase, which passed the restaurant on the way. When I reached the top floor of Galata tower, I had an unobstructed and 360-degree view of Istanbul in front of me.
If you know me well, you will realise that seeing Istanbul from the top of Galata tower is an achievement as I have a big fear of heights. So, I circled the viewing platform with my back firmly against the wall. The thought of peering over the guard rails, down to the streets below, was too much to bear.
Note to the idiot at Galata tower on the same morning as me. Messing about at the top of a 66-meter Genoese tower with dodgy looking guardrails and a half meter path full of tourists IS NOT FUNNY. So yes, if you were up the tower on the same day as me, I was the freaky woman having palpitations and suffering from a hangover, which made me want to throw up. However, I am glad I went, and I took loads of photos.
About Galata Tower
The Genoese tower, which means the tower of Christ in Latin, stands in the Karakoy district and is a short walk from Galata bridge. However, its tall length of nine stories and 70 metres makes it a fascinating landmark on Istanbul’s horizon. The inside stretches for only 9 metres emphasising its tower structure.
The tower, first built in the 14th century, was the tallest building in Constantinople and an achievement. However, by the time it came to Ottoman rule after the Byzantine Empire was disbanded, its purpose as a high observation point was to spot any fires, which at that time, could frequently happen since Ottomans used wood to build many houses. Sadly, the tower suffered significant damage during a fire in 1831, after which restoration work took place. It was also repaired extensively during the 1960s when authorities replaced the wooden interior with concrete and opened it as a public tourist attraction.
Further Reading
If you plan to visit other attractions, you might want to purchase the Istanbul e-tourist ticket, which helps you to save money, get guided tours, professional advice via the What’s app, and it beats the queues. Otherwise, after visiting Galata Tower in Istanbul, head up to Istiklal avenue, where many more attractions await you.
Famous Landmarks of Istanbul: I love exploring famous landmarks wherever I go in Turkey, and Istanbul is no exception. This article talks more about Galata tower and 14 famous landmarks that you should put on your bucket list when visiting Istanbul.
I couldn’t agree more, it is the best view one can get of the city.
I recently tried Facebook’s new 360 photo feature. You can move your phone around you and feel like you are at the top of the tower. Pretty cool stuff! Check it out: http://canimistanbul.com/blog/en/galata-tower-360-photo/
our life is short but we can make our life very happy and most beautiful by tour nice places in the world!
Thank you for sharing! really i enjoyed your photos it is alive and most adventure!
Got to the tower too late myself. I shouldn’t have missed that opportunity. Great shots.
You’ve captured some great photos! I especially like the tilt shift one…
Glad you stuck with it so I could view the results. I would so love to see it for myself. Many thanks!
That photo with the bird is amazing… and actually some of your photos look like that style where things look minature…
Great view! I’ll have to remember this when I visit the city again… and will be sure to go when I do not have a hangover.
Hi Natalie,
I actually had been in a Jewwish synagogue years ago for a friend’s wedding, it is atmospheric. Also a few years ago my American friends went to the one near Karakoy, a small but a nice one, worth exploring. Lots of history there.
Hope it helps!
When I first drove through Istanbul I just loved the look of the city as a whole – all the sprawling buildings over the rolling hills dotted with minarets in the landscape. It looks awsome from a high place!
I was petrified the whole time as well because the ground slopes towards the edge! So you are not the only one that freaks out with heights 🙂
Great photos, and as always they make us yearn to visit Turkey. We actually had a Turkish ecotourism press trip set up a few months ago, but it fell through. Hopefully we’ll make it there next year…
As Ali said, we were fighting weather on our time up. Though I think we did pretty good. We did two rounds around the tower each with a different lens on the tower. What gets me is that even though there are signs and arrows and the path is really quite tiny, there were a lot of people that were walking the wrong way. Seriously? That was so annoying.
Your pictures look so great! When we went up there, the weather was pretty bad, and as we walked around taking pictures it just kept getting worse and worse. Overcast and drizzly. Luckily we were done right before it really started raining. It was still a great view of Istanbul though!
Beautiful photos! I’m not scared of heights, but Kali isn’t too fond of them… I think in this case the view is worth it, though. 🙂
Fabulous pic’s Natalie and well done for getting up there im not good with hights myself the last thing you need when your afraid of something is some nutter messing around
Luckily, I did video record it 🙂 Here’s a link to it on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheWorkingMomsTravels
Merhaba Natalie,
So great to see the Galata Tower!! What a great shot you took with the seagull – marti – in it!
I love the view all round, especially the views of Bogazici, the Bosphorus, so inviting.
The Galata Tower area changed so much over the years; a cup of cay (tea) by the skirts of the tower is a wonderful experience. They now have lots of neat Turkish restaurants, cafes all round there, enjoy for me too:)
That is the most amazing gull shot.
There are total 7 photos in this post.
Everybody knows some mosque. Such as, Suleymaniye, Yeni (New), Fatih Camii.
You can see Suleymaniye mosque 4th photo. Everybody knows this mosque with 4 minarets.
you can see Fatih mosque 5th mosque with two minarets.
You can see Yeni (New) mosqua and Spice Bazaar. Left side and center.
I have been to the top of Galata Tower, also. It was one of my favorite attractions in Istanbul. The views were spectacular and we were lucky to be there on a day that didn’t see huge crowds trying to get to the top. We were in Istanbul during a religious holiday, so there were more calls to prayer each day than normal (so we were told). We happened to be at the top of the tower for one call to prayer and it was intense! The chanting was in stereo, sound coming from the mosques all around the tower. An unforgettable experience!
hehe, some people just don’t have the same respect for heights
Your photos turned out wonderful. I assure you that I wasn’t the idiot up there. We went to go up the Tower, but alas we arrived at 7:45pm only to find out that it closes at 7:30pm. We did not try again. Thanks for showing us the view, and good on ya for trying to conquer your fear.