Galata tower

Galata tower.  This is the stair that goes around the tower.  The tower was built by the Genoese as they were big traders. They actually took over a portion of the area in Istanbul under the Byzantium rulers. They had their own government and defense.  I read today the ottomans built defensible Castle from which they attached the city.  It reminds of age of empires where you could win by just building on your enemies land.  I guess it really happened that way.

The chain across the harbor was to protect against ships going into the harbor and  attacking the city.  I had always wanted to see what the chain looks like.  Here is  the actual portion of the chain that was used.

This is the tower. The whole neighborhood is one that looks very Italian.  There are a lot of foreign embassies in this area.  I saw the Russian, French, and swedish embassies. They had a lot of police around there.