A Cruise Along the Bosphorous

Now this is more familiar territory – out on the water to enjoy a voyage to the black sea. Of course, I have to do it on the cheap!

It was hard rowing but there I am heading over from the eastern side to pick Connie up on the European side. The rental didn’t include lifejackets but everything else was included.

The return trip to the Black Sea was about three hours stopping at a variety of ferry landings. We mostly hugged the European side except in the narrows.

The Bosphorus is an amazing body of water connecting the Black Sea and the Marmarra Sea. The Bosphorus is the only access Russia and the Ukraine have to the Mediterranean. For thousands of years it also played a role in the push and pull of western versus eastern influences. I am currently reading a book written by Christopher de Bellaguie called The Lion House: The Coming of a King. It’s primarily about the power change between the Christains and the Muslims over the Bosphorus and hence the city of Constantinople/Istanbul.

Rowing (!) along the Bosphorus is enlightening in terms of the impossibility of any shipping transiting from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean not being seen or controlled by Turkey. it’s not a wide channel with most of it being a nautical mile wide. What power that gives Turkey.

We stopped at numerous landings along the Bosphorus to let off paying passengers. Here are a few of those stops: