The View from the Bridge - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 14

Cami, the large mosque which stands at the Stamboul end of the
Galata Bridge, and Rüstem Paşa Camii, the smaller mosque which is
located in the market district just to the west. The Third and Fourth
Hills are joined by the Roman aqueduct of Valens; but to see this
we must bestir ourselves from our seat on the Galata Bridge and
walk some distance up the Golden Horn towards the inner span, the
Atatürk Bridge. The Fourth Hill is surmounted by Fatih Camii, the
Mosque of the Conqueror, whose domes and minarets can be seen
in the middle distance, some way in from the Golden Horn. The
mosque of Sultan Selim I stands above the Golden Horn on the Fifth
Hill. Far of in the distance we can just see the minarets of Mihrimah
Camii, which stands on the summit of the Sixth Hill, a mile inland
from the Golden Horn and just inside the Theodosian walls. Across
the Golden Horn the skyline is dominated by the huge, conical-
capped Galata Tower, the last remnant of the medieval Genoese town
of Galata.
Looking down the Golden Horn to where it joins the Bosphorus
and flows into the Marmara we see the fabled Maiden's Tower, the
little islet watchtower which stands at the confluence of the city's
garland of waters. Beyond, on the Asian shore, the afternoon sun is
reflected in the windows of Üsküdar, anciently called Chrysopolis,
the City of Gold. Farther to the south, out of sight from our vantage
point on the Galata Bridge, is the Anatolian suburb of Kadıköy, the
ancient Chalcedon, settled a decade or so before Byzantium. Sipping
our tea or rakı in our café on the Galata Bridge, we rest our eyes
once more on the gray and ruined beauty of Stamboul, crowned with
imperial monuments on its seven ancient hills. At times like this we
can agree with the Delphic oracle, for those who settled across the
straits from this enchanting place were surely blind.