Along the Golden Horn - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 301

15
Along the
Golden Horn
The region along the Stamboul shore of the Golden Horn above
the two bridges is one which few tourists ever see, except for one
or two of the more famous monuments. This is a pity, for it has a
distinctive atmosphere which is quite unlike that of any other part of
the city. Some of its quarters, particularly Fener and Balat, are very
picturesque and preserves aspects of the life of old Stamboul which
have all but vanished elsewhere.
Our tour begins at the Stamboul end of the Atatürk Bridge. This
is the place known as Odun Kapısı, the Wood Gate, after a long
vanished gateway known in antiquity as the Porta Plarea. The first
part of our tour takes us along the shore highway, which is now
bordered by a park along the Golden Horn, making our stroll easier
and more pleasant than it was in times past.
GOLDEN HORN SEA-WALLS
As we walk along we see on the left side of the avenue stretches of the
medieval Byzantine sea-walls that once extended along the shores of
the Golden Horn and the Marmara, joining up with the land-walls
at both ends. The stretch that we will pass on our present tour, which
goes beyond what was once the end-point of Constantine's wall, was
originally built by Theodosius II in the fifth century to meet the
great land-walls which he constructed at that time. These sea-walls
were repaired and reconstructed many times across the centuries,
particularly by the Emperor Theophilus in the ninth century. These
fortifications consisted for the most part of a single line of walls ten
metres in height and five kilometres long, studded by a total of 110
defence towers placed at regular intervals. Considerable stretches
of this wall still remain standing, particularly along the route of
our present tour, although almost all of it is in ruins. Much of this