Rumeli Hisarı and Anadolu Hisarı: the fortresses at the narrows
Two castles face each other where the strait is narrowest. Together they decided the fate of Constantinople.
Published
Halfway up the Bosphorus the shores close in, and on either side stand stone castles. They are among the most striking sights of any cruise — and they changed history.
Anadolu Hisarı, the elder
On the Asian shore, at the mouth of the Göksu stream, Sultan Bayezid I built Anadolu Hisarı in 1393–1394. It is the smaller of the two, a compact keep and walls now surrounded by the village that grew up around it.
Rumeli Hisarı, built for a siege
Almost sixty years later, Sultan Mehmed II built Rumeli Hisarı directly across the water, in 1452. Its purpose was plain: with guns on both shores, no ship could bring help to Constantinople from the Black Sea.
The following year, 1453, Mehmed took the city. The fortress’s towers and curtain walls still climb the steep European hillside, and it has been a museum since 1960.
Seeing them
From a cruise you pass between the two fortresses, close enough to see the shape of the towers; the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge spans the water just beyond. Whether the fortresses are open to visitors on a given day is decided by the authorities that run them.