Walking the Theodosian Land Walls & the Siege of Constantinople 1453 - Turkiye Travel Guide

One of the best sights to see in Istanbul is the old city's walls, originally built in the 5th Century AD. For some reason, there are hardly any visitors to what is one of the most impressive fortifications ever built!
Having kept the city safe from invaders for centuries, the mighty land walls of Theodosian finally succumbed to the Ottoman siege in 1453, and my video also includes a brief history of events from this epic struggle between the old and the new powers in 15th Century eastern Europe.
00:00 - Intro
01:48 - The Siege of Constantinople
04:10 - 1453 Panorama Museum
04:44 - A tour of the Walls
08:09 - Yedikule Fortress
09:23 - Marble Tower
10:10 - Ending

[@hypersp3ce596]

Such an epic victory for the Ottomans

[@traveldan1]

A very costly one by the sounds of it! Almost didn't make it even if they had taken over pretty much everything else the Byzantines had!

[@Thegrillingdude]

I really enjoyed your video. Facinating place for sure and a bucket list place for me

[@traveldan1]

Thanks for your kind comment! It is one of the best things to see in Istanbul in my opinion, just surprised there was nobody else with the same idea as me when I went 😁

[@frankie1944]

Great vid, Dan - thanks!

[@traveldan1]

Thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed it!

[@sifridbassoon]

love your video. God, I'm hoping to get to Istanbul before it is destroyed by an earthquake. I have read in more than one guide book, warnings that walking the length of the walls is not recommended since some areas are not considered safe. Not structurally so much, but socially with there being many homeless camps. I'm curious if you found that to be true. Thanks again. Loved the video.

[@traveldan1]

Thanks for the comment! These walls have survived the earthquakes time and time again so they should be OK 😁

[@traveldan1]

I had read exactly the same about the walls not being that safe to walk around . For the part that is in my video, you shouldn't have any trouble as it is by a busy main road and a lot of it borders on allotments which you can't go in anyway, so walking along the road is about as close as you can get. There are some parts further north which actually appear and disappear again within some residential districts. I tried finding the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus and the streets didn't look that great, but if you just exercise caution when walking around it didn't feel dangerous. Hope that helps!

[@elvafong3591]

Great video! How do you get to the Theodosian Walls from the Sultanahment square using public transportation?

[@traveldan1]

Thank you very much! From the Sultanahmet Square, you'll want the T1 tram heading to Topkapi which is about 10 stops I think

[@SpirosKiriakopoulos]

I really don't understand the Turkish flag on this video, why not the Byzantine flag?

[@traveldan1]

That is a good point, I had just chosen the Turkish flag as it forms part of what I saw during my trip to present day Turkiye 🙂

[@user-vl2mr8mr5u]

The romans are gone bro

[@hypersp3ce596]

because it's in Turkey. Byzantines were the enemies of the Turks why would Turkey put a byzantine flag?

[@SpirosKiriakopoulos]

@@hypersp3ce596 I mean the flag on the video edit. Just for the history

[@alvirarahman1559]

why would the Byzantine flag be there?? What remains of Byzantium?

[@alvirarahman1559]

2:14 Ottomans were 70,000 in numbers NOT 100,000.

[@traveldan1]

Is this a case that historical accounts would differ depending on which sources are believed? Like how the Ottomans said they treated everyone in the city respectfully after the siege, whereas Christian sources said the streets were lined with civilian corpses?

[@alvirarahman1559]

@@traveldan1 Ottomans have no history whatsoever of harming innocent civilians in the cities they captured.

[@betulpolat8246]

OTTOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMAN EMPREEEEE I AM TÜRKIYE POWWER TÜRKIYE MAMMMMMMMMMMA MIA TÜRKLER

[@traveldan1]

You sound like a proud Ottoman! 😄

[@SpirosKiriakopoulos]

Congrats for beeing Turkiye. In fact the Ottoman empire brought with it nothing but genocides. Literally everything else was stollen from other culture, no parthenogenesis at all. I only admire the great Mehmet, he may have conquered The Queen Of Cities and I 've spent countless sleepless nights beeign sad as hell for that, but everything with him was just great. Other than that, nothing.

[@flansable]

@@SpirosKiriakopoulos dude get over it, it’s been 600 years

[@SpirosKiriakopoulos]

@@flansable time is meaningless on matters like this. Actually is generally meaningless. If you see the Theodosian walls and Haghia Sophia you can tell for yourself.

[@hypersp3ce596]

@@SpirosKiriakopoulos lol, why are you spreading lies? go take your copium