Rumeli Fortress
A Fortress Built In 1452 By Mehmed The Conqueror In Just Four Months To Control The Bosphorus Before The Fall Of Constantinople, With Three Great Towers And Walls Climbing The Hillside. Visitors Walk The Ramparts For Views Of The Strait And The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, With The Matching Anadolu Fortress Across The Water · Sariyer, Istanbul
Rumeli Fortress, known in Turkish as Rumeli Hisari, stands on the European shore of the Bosphorus in the Sariyer district, at the narrowest point of the strait, about 12 km north of Eminonu. Mehmed the Conqueror had it built in 1452 in only about four months (confirm), the year before he took Constantinople, so that guns on both banks could stop ships bringing help to the city. Its three large towers, a smaller set of towers and long walls climb the steep hillside to the water, and the plan is irregular because it followed the slope. The Ottomans called the place Bogazkesen, a name often read as the throat cutter (confirm). Visitors enter through a gate on the hill road, wander through ruined interiors and walk the ramparts on steep stone steps for views of the strait and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge. Across the water stands the older Anadolu Fortress, built by Bayezid I in the 1390s. Below the walls are fish restaurants, tea gardens and a small village road lined with old wooden houses.
Rumeli Fortress, on the European shore of the Bosphorus at Rumelihisari in Sariyer, at the narrowest point of the strait about 12 km north of Eminonu; coordinates approximate, Sariyer, Istanbul, Turkiye
Rumeli Fortress is commonly open from about 9 am to 4:30 or 6 pm depending on the season, and is usually closed on Mondays (confirm days and hours). Ticket sales may end 30 minutes before closing, and the ramparts and towers can be closed for repair or after rain because the stone stairs become slick. On summer evenings the walls are floodlit from the shore even when the gate is shut. The grounds sometimes host concerts or events, which can alter hours (confirm). Daylight lasts to about 8:30 pm in June and fades by 5 pm in December. Restaurants below the walls keep their own hours, and several stay open late at weekends.