Built of wood in the 10th to 13th centuries, then redesigned and rebuilt in stone by Italian military engineers in the 16th century, K-P's fortress is a complete mishmash of styles. The name of the bridge is slightly misleading, as it's essentially a medieval structure whose arches were filled in and fortified by Turks in the 17th century. But the overall impression is breathtaking.
If Ukraine ever gets its act together as a tourist destination, the view from the Turkish Bridge leading to the fortress will become one of the country's iconic, front-page vistas. The fortress is in the shape of a polygon, with nine towers of all shapes and sizes linked by a sturdy wall. In the middle of it all is a vast courtyard. The New East Tower (1544) is directly to your right as you enter the fortress and contains a well and a huge winch stretching 40m deep through the cliff to bring up water.
Just beyond the New East Tower, an unmarked white building houses a fantastic museum that romps through the history of K-P and Ukraine over the last century in a jumble of nostalgia-inducing exhibits. Two revolutions bookend the collections, with the blood-red silken flags of 1917 looking symbolically more potent than the limp orange banners of 2004.
