THE GIGANTIC TUNNELS AND BRIDGES

The Gigantic Tunnels And Bridges

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With sloping banks studded with elegant private mansions, palace parks and centuries-old groves, the Bosphorus is the embodiment of Istanbul.

This 19-mile (30-kilometer) strait runs from the Black Sea in the north to the Sea of Marmara in the south.

The urban sprawl covers Europe in the west and Asia to the east, geographical facts giving rise to the romantically evocative but somewhat fanciful description of Istanbul as a city that straddles two continents.

Technically it does, but the Bosphorus isn’t the city’s only waterway. Just before it meets the Sea of Marmara, the Golden Horn – known locally as Haliç – branches off northwest. It eventually peters out inland unlike the Sea of Marmara, which leads to the Aegean Sea via the narrow Dardanelles Strait.

Day and night, tankers and container ships are visible along the horizon near the Princess Islands, patiently waiting their turn to pass along the shipping route.

Similarly, Istanbul residents wait too, in cars, on buses, trains and ferries. According to 2021 figures, just shy of 16 million people reside in Istanbul. Many live on one side of the city and work on the other, meaning at any one time a large swathe of the population is on the move.

Navigating the city’s tangled road map can be chaotic at any time of day and sometimes it feels like it’s a wonder that anyone gets anywhere, but they do – making use of road, rail, ship, bridge and tunnel to cross from one continent to another.