Wanting to explore some of the outer suburb areas of Istanbul, away from the millions of tourists, I took the new subway system that was built with the help of the Japanese and went out to Yedikule castle.
The new subway is pretty neat, since it goes under the sea. They call it the Marmaray, named after the channel. Right now it only has a couple stops, but the plan is to expand it out much further. It has connections to other metro and tram lines along the way.
The castle is very close to the train station, so you can easily walk. From the top of the towers you can get a good view of the city and the ocean.
The castle is still original. No safety features have been added, so you should be very careful as you walk along the castle walls. You can climb the towers too. It’s a shame they don’t put up some signs giving some history, it would make for a more rounded experiance.
At the bottom of the towers are jail cells. Apparently many prisoners were held here and some were even executed at this site.
Now inside the walls is just another Istanbul suburb. There is a gate that will just allow one car through at a time, so traffic lights are used.