Galata A Guide to Istanbul's Old Genoese Quarter

The conical-capped Galata Tower (Galata Kulesi) is the most prominent landmark on the northern side of the Golden Horn, the scimitar-shaped inlet that intersects the Bosphorus on its European side near the southern end of the strait. The tower is the most important surviving monument from the late medieval Genoese city-state of Galata, which in the latter Byzantine era was independent from the Byzantine empire, whose capital was across the Golden Horn in Constantinople - the ancient Byzantium. Today the tower is the principal tourist attraction in Galata, offering a stunning view of both shores of the Golden Horn as well as the European and Asian shores of the lower Bosphorus.