Bridges have a special fascination for people and tend to acquire their own stories and legends. This is truth of Istanbul, where bridges have found their way into folklore and become a treasured feature of the urban landscape.
Therefore to treat the Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn merely from the historic angle would be mis
Galata is located at the north side of the Golden Horn, towards Taksim Square. Galata was surrounded by walls, constructed by the Genoese, until the 19th century. These walls started at Azapkapi near the Golden Horn. The Galata Tower was the northernmost observation tower and the walls go down to Tophane from this point.
Its name was "Sykai" (Fig field) during the Byzantine period. It also was called "Peran en Sykais" in Greek, which means fig field of the other side. Its name "Pera" which was used by the Levantines came from this origin. The origin of Galata was either "galaktos" (milk) in Greek or "calata" (stairway) in Italian.
