Galata Tower

The Galata Tower (Galata Kulesi) is the most recognizable shape on the Beyoğlu skyline — a 67-meter stone cylinder with a conical roof and crows-nest observation deck 9 floors up. It was the tallest structure in the world when it was built in 1348 by the Genoese as part of their trading colony at Galata. The tower has been a prison, a fire-watch, an observatory, and now a museum and tourist magnet.

The lift carries you most of the way up; the last few flights are stairs. The observation deck wraps around the cone, with windows on all four sides. West is the Galata Bridge and the Golden Horn. East is the Bosphorus and the Asian side. South is the curve of the Old City, with Hagia Sophia's dome and Süleymaniye's mass rising in clear silhouette. North is the new Istanbul, ever-upward.

Come at sunset for the postcard view of the Old City turning pink, then again at night when the mosques are lit and the ferries trail their lights across the water. There's a restaurant and nightclub inside the tower's neck — skip the meal (overpriced) but the view from the deck is timeless.