Dear Reader (2023-06-10),
Yesterday I released the first post (click here) in this new Jackdaw series in which I will try and bring visual sense to our recent travels in Eastern Europe. The map [1] summarizes the cruise portion.
Having slept on the current approach for a day, I think the approach will work until I change my mind.
Let’s continue exploring Istanbul. When we were there, we were just days before the May 28 election runoff for president.
Istanbul – Spice Market
Outside the spice market, speakers blare political messages supporting Erdogan. Most people try to ignore the cacophony.
~ Spice Market – 4 – Technically flawed but still a good image
Istanbul – The Bosporus
The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Turkey that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It forms part of the continental boundary between Asia and Europe, and divides Turkey by separating Anatolia from Thrace. It is the world’s narrowest strait used for international navigation [2].
The origin of the strait’s name comes from the Ancient Greek and can be translated as ‘cattle-passage’, or ‘cow passage’. This is a reference to the Greek mythological story of Io, who was transformed into a cow and condemned to wander the Earth until she crossed the Bosporus, where she met the Titan Prometheus, who comforted her by telling her that she would be restored to human form by Zeus and become the ancestor of the greatest of all heroes, Heracles (Hercules) [2].
The Bosporus Strait and the Dardanelles Strait at the opposite end of the Sea of Marmara are together known as the Turkish Straits [2].
Earlier on in the day, April saw a dolphin in these same waters. We take a short boat tour on the Bosporos to see the European and Asian shores from the sea, and see no dolphins.
The phrase faded glory comes to mind and will remain there for the following weeks. The irony in this case is that the cost of any of these places is only a (or 100) lottery win away.
FYI: As you are scrolling through the images please note that you can click on any image and see the image with a nice dark background and no annoying band across the top. As well most of my photographs are best viewed on a monitor
Collections Updated From This Post
~ Through A Bus Window
~ Place Specific
References
1 – Scanned image from a printed Viking daily information sheet – no link
2 – adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosporus
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As always, all comments are welcome and sought.
Cheers, Sean
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All rights for all material on any media reserved – © Sean P Drysdale 2020-2024
I suspect I’m being converted to the dark side by wondering right off if the Bosporus 1-4 would look in black and white, though there’s certainly nothing wrong with how they look as is.
The people photos. Lots of times now I’ve seen interesting photos of people out on the street or in another public place, but I either didn’t have a camera, or wasn’t ready for the photo. My dilemma is that if I ask first, the moment is gone, never to return. If I take the photo without asking, they could become upset by seeing it as an invasion of their privacy, even if they aren’t famous and are in a public place with no expectation of privacy.
As an update note, the Viking info sheet is not a link to the document.
Thank you for commenting, visiting, and the edit. I have clarified the source.