Golden Horn, Natural harbor in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Golden Horn is an inlet that reaches about 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles) inland from the Bosphorus, becoming up to 35 meters (115 feet) deep at the mouth. The shores run parallel and form a long, sheltered waterway flanked by hills on both sides.
During the 1453 siege, Sultan Mehmed II transported ships overland on greased logs to bypass the defensive chain at the entrance. Afterward, the city built shipyards and trading docks along the inlet that supplied the Ottoman Empire for centuries.
The name comes from the golden shimmer the water takes at sunset, when light breaks across the inlet. Along the shores you see fishermen working with their rods, and ferries carrying residents between different neighborhoods.
Bridges such as the Galata, Atatürk and Haliç connect the shores and let you cross the inlet on foot or by car. Ferries run regularly between the piers and offer an easy way to move between districts.
Leonardo da Vinci designed a bridge for the inlet in 1502, but it was never built. The design, however, inspired a footbridge erected in Norway in 2001.
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