The Fortress of Seven Towers - Incredible!

I've traveled a lot of places, but today I saw probably the second most amazing historical site that I've ever seen, Yedikule Zindanları or The Castle of Seven Towers. (My top favorite would be Ephesus, which I blogged about briefly here.) Amazingly, this site is here in Istanbul, and I'd never heard of it till about 3 weeks ago.  It costs  $5 and is the chance to explore a 555-year old fortress with a few niceties... basic handrails sometimes, some rickety balconies to transfer between prison cells, and a couple of the passageways even have lights, though most of them you get to navigate in the pitch darkness if you are lucky enough to visit on an overcast winter day!  

The view was amazing, probably the best view of the western half of Istanbul that I've ever seen.

The setting felt epic.  Why are there not movies filmed here?

Rickety balcony, now look down and try not to notice the rust.

These towers also served as prisons and places of execution during various periods... not very cozy, even for royal prisoners of whom there were quite a few... Turkish, Hungarian, Georgian.  Which cell would you like?

Oh, and I forgot to mention the indoor-outdoor plumbing... this ran from the cell, right out the wall.

Finally, I should mention that if you want to visit, access is really easy due to the Marmaray Underground which has a station (Kazliçeşme) a very short walk from the unmissable fortress walls.