Üsküdar / Leander's Tower

The best way to get to Üsküdar is to take the car ferry which plies regularly across the Bosporus, here 2km/1.25mi from the Kabatas landing-stage (2km/1.25mi northeast of the Galata Bridge). On an islet just off the Asiatic shore stands Leander's Tower (in Turkish Kiz Kulesi, "Maiden's Tower"), 30m/100ft high, with a signal station and a lighthouse.

Istanbul's outlying district of Üsküdar, traditionally known as Scutari, on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus, is the city's largest suburb. With its handsome old mosques, winding lanes and weathered brown timber houses (particularly between the landing-stage and the large cemetery) it has preserved more of its traditional Oriental character than the Old Town of Istanbul. The town, known in antiquity as Chrysopolis, was one of the earliest Greek settlements on the Bosporus. It was much more exposed to attack by foreign conquerors than was Constantinople with its defensive situation and strong walls, but it was able to draw economic advantage from its exposed situation: until 1800 it was the terminus of the caravan routes which brought the treasures of the East to Constantinople, from which they were sent to Europe.