Yoros Castle

Yoros Castle ruin sits on a plateau overlooking the Black Sea at the Asian end of the Bosporus, above the fishing village of Anadolu Kavagi. The strategic site was fortified in antiquity as the Hieron of the Phocaeans. The castle visible today goes back to the Byzantines and was expanded in the 13th century by Genoese merchants, who ran a customs post here for Black Sea trade. With the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, Yoros lost its function. Today the site is a favorite outing for Istanbulites: a boat from Eminoenue to Anadolu Kavagi, then about a 20-minute climb up the hill. From the walls the view sweeps over the Black Sea and the mouth of the Bosporus.