April 20, 2022
48 degrees, but it's a sea day so we're warm, dry and toasty!
“My only consolation for the failure of the Dardanelles was that God wished things to be prolonged in order to sicken mankind of war, and that therefore He had interfered with a project that would have brought the war to a speedier conclusion.” — Winston Churchill
To approach from the Med or leave Istanbul heading west, you must transit the Dardanelles, a narrow, natural waterway that connects the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara, and then by extension on into the Black Sea. It is a natural chokepoint, one which Churchill tried to force open during World War I. More recently, earlier in the Russian invasion of Ukraine this year, Turkey originally said they would keep Russia from entering the Black Sea through their strait.
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| Canakkale Bridge. Its span is 2030 meters from one side of the Strait of Gallipoli to the other. |
I don't know if they followed up on that threat, but when we sailed in to Istanbul, a submarine of indeterminate provenance was traveling on the surface, following the Star. It's a very narrow waterway and heavily congested with commercial and military traffic, fishing boats and ferries. I was glad when we'd tied up in Istanbul and glad when we shot out into the open water of the Aegean today. .
It may also have had something to do with putting more nautical miles between us and the horrible conflict still boiling in Ukraine.
You are certainly getting a range of weather! I am glad that your journey is able to continue even with the Ukraine situation.
ReplyDeleteWe were halfway expecting the Istanbul stop to change or be cancelled just because of its strategic location, but Viking pressed on. And we felt safe there. About weather, we really have both baked and frozen, been sunburnt and drenched on this itinerary. We just have to carry the right equipment to keep going!
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