“The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was, is lost, for none now live who remember it.” -Galadriel
The Bosporus is strip of water that connects the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea, and splits the continents of Europe and Asia. This has been a major trade route throughout the centuries. As a result, the civilization with control over this body of water was likely to be powerful because of how useful and essential the location is.
There are so many spectacular things about the Bosporus Trip that it is difficult to decide what to point out.The trip begins at the Eminönü ferry stop around 10 in the morning. It’s best to arrive 30 minutes or more early to get a good seat on the ferry since it takes about two hours to get to the stop just before the Black Sea, which was our destination on this day.
While waiting for the ferry to leave, I sat watching large white jelly fish and little schools of fish swim by, heading for the Galata Bridge. And as usual, the bridge was lined with fishermen waiting to catch a bite. Unfortunately, I did not see any lucky fishermen while I waited. I tried to prepare myself for everything that I was about to see by reviewing my guidebook just before the ferry left the dock. I brought it along so I could trace our route without missing anything. As on all of the ferries, most of the people around were doing one of the following; drinking tea, Turkish coffee (not to be confused with any other kind of coffee), lemon or orange juice, or smoking a cigarette.
It didn’t take long for me to get caught up in the beauty of the ride and lose track of where we were in my guidebook. People shifted from once side of the ferry to the other to take pictures of everything we were encountering. I got up from my seat a few times to get take some pictures as well. Asia was to my right and Europe to my left. We passed under a few bridges, and by several spectacular looking houses, including two palaces. I decided that it wasn’t worth trying to name everything because I was missing out on a lot of the fun by staring at the guidebook.
Both sides of the water were lined with hills. The European side seemed to have a lot more houses than the Asian side for most of the way. Both were equally beautiful though. To give you a better idea of the atmosphere, it was a fairly hot day, too hot to sit in the sun, but nice and breezy on the ferry. The sky was blue and sunny with a few clouds here and there.
The greatest part of the trip was arriving at the last stop on the ferry in little town of Anadolu Kavağı. It was full of fish restaurants; I opted for a less expensive siş meal instead. After doing some shopping for cheap little trinkets, like bracelets and things, I made my way to the great hill. I knew there was a medieval castle at the top of the hill, but nothing more. It was just past 1 in the afternoon and the sun was very hot. There was very little shade as we hiked the streets to the top of the hill, and for that reason it was quite exhausting. I felt slightly dizzy when I finally reached the top, but after taking one look out at the black sea I immediately forgot how hot and thirsty I felt. For the first time since arriving in Istanbul I felt a cool breeze. It had been breezy on some occasions, but never a cool breeze refreshing breeze like this.
I was looking out the opening of the Bosporus into the Black Sea. The water was spotted with boats, they looked small from where I was standing, but in reality they were freight liners and such. The sun was blinding and forced me to squint without sunglasses. I was surrounded by people from what sounded like all around the world. They all seemed to be speaking in different languages that blended together with the wind to create a soft mummer as I took in the view.
When I finally stepped out of the trance, I looked around more at my surroundings. I was standing inside an ancient medieval castle. It had been rebuild and added onto a few times throughout the centuries, but I was standing in the very place where an entire castle once stood. The only remnants of it were a few walls and large brick towers. I found myself thinking about death as I sat on a crumbled wall of the castle. How many men died building the castle in such a remote place, with steep hills surrounding it? How many men did it take to build a structure like this with such huge heavy bricks? What would this castle have looked like back in its day(s), and how many times had it been rebuilt? Did this wall that I am sitting on once hold up a ceiling or was it just a wall? What purposes did this castle once serve? How many men died protecting this land through the ages? There is no doubt that the number of people who have died on this land out number the number of people who live on it now by many to one.
It’s really a shame that there was so much graffiti on the walls and remaining structures. There was nothing to protect this ancient landmark. Of course, my favorite thing was the lack of safety precautions, which also would have hindered the site, in my opinion. No railings, watch your step signs, do not climb signs; nothing of the sort existed. I sat and stared out at the water for a while more, wondering how many millions of ships had passed through this waterway over time, and how many ship wrecks were at the bottom of the Bosporus. I admired the view for quite a while, so long that I decided to take a later ferry home than almost everyone in our group. It was well worth the once in a lifetime view.
I peeled my eyes away and made myself walk down the hill to catch the ferry last back home. The hot sun and the hill had taken so much out of me that I slept for a great deal of the ride back. I tried to stay awake because I wanted to enjoy every last minute of this adventure, but my eyelids were heavy with exhaustion from the blinding sun and the spectacular view I had just witnessed. I slept most of the way home.
