The Bosporus Strait, a natural body of water 35 kilometers long connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Mamara.  One of the busiest shipping channels in the world it is flanked on both sides by thousands of years of history, castles, mosques, several universities, and homes both small and grand. Two long suspension bridge cross the straits joining Asia and Europe.

We took a ferry boat ride on the Bosporus this morning – a day surprisingly cool and dance of rain and clouds to making the water an ever changing shade of blue.  What the tourist literature doesn’t mention is the beautiful wooden sail boats still plying these waters.  My sailing friends would have loved them.