Blog
History, landmarks and practical advice for seeing the Bosphorus.
A walk along the rail, shore by shore: the old city, the palaces of Beşiktaş, the narrows at the fortresses and the way home past the Maiden’s Tower.
Read the article — What you see on a Bosphorus cruise, from start to finish
Daylight shows you the landmarks; the evening shows you the city lit up. A short guide to picking the cruise that suits your trip.
Read the article — Sightseeing or dinner: choosing your Bosphorus cruise
Which side to sit on, when the light is best and how to keep a picture sharp when the deck is moving.
Read the article — Photographing the Bosphorus from a moving boat
Palaces and lively villages on one side, green hills and wooden mansions on the other: how the two shores differ.
Read the article — Europe or Asia? The two shores of the Bosphorus
From the first bridge between continents in 1973 to the newest at the Black Sea end — and the tunnels beneath the water.
Read the article — The three bridges over the BosphorusTwo castles face each other where the strait is narrowest. Together they decided the fate of Constantinople.
Read the article — Rumeli Hisarı and Anadolu Hisarı: the fortresses at the narrows
From Topkapı on its point to the summer palace of Beylerbeyi: the Ottoman residences built to be seen from the water.
Read the article — The palaces of the Bosphorus
A tower on a rock off Üsküdar, a princess and a snake, and nine centuries of watching the strait.
Read the article — The Maiden’s Tower: legend and historyPainted timber houses with their feet in the water — the most Bosphorus of all buildings.
Read the article — Yalı: the wooden mansions of the Bosphorus
How long it is, how narrow it gets, why its water flows two ways at once — and why the world’s ships pass through the middle of Istanbul.
Read the article — The Bosphorus explained: a strait between two seas