Ask any citizen of İstanbul about the Kız Kulesi (Maiden's Tower) and they'll regale you with the fable of how a jealous father sequestered his fair daughter here, on this rock in the middle of the Bosphorus, to protect her from the world, and particularly from a curse put upon her by a ticked-off sorcerer: the maiden would die by snakebite, said the warlock.

Hah! thought dad: No snakes on that rock!

The snake hitched a ride in a fruit basket, the daughter got her bite, the over-protective father was chagrined.

According to historians, though, the Kız Kulesi was a medieval maritime toll-booth, a convenient place for ships passing through the Bosphorus to pay duty on the goods they transported through the Byzantine emperor's domains.

Today there's a restaurant here, and other towers - big white steel ones with radar mechanisms on top - watch the ships. (Location: İstanbul, 8 Dec 06)

Uploaded by chicaurbana on 5/2/2007, viewed 8902 times.