Ferries in Istanbul Ferries in Istanbul The city of Istanbul is at a geographic crossroads, straddling Europe and Asia Minor, and is divided by a sea lane called the Bosphorus Strait, which joins the Black Sea in the northeast and the Marmara Sea in the southwest. This strait has played a key role in the history of the city. Boats have traversed the waters of the Bosphorus for millennia and until the opening of the first Bosphorus bridge in 1973, were the only mode of transport between the European and Asian halves of Istanbul. They continue to serve as a key public transport
Istanbul Islam") was sometimes colloquially used to refer to the city, and was even engraved on some Ottoman coins, but the belief that it was the precursor to the present name, "İstanbul", is belied by the fact that the latter existed well before the former and even predates the Ottoman conquest of the city. The name "İstanbul" (, colloquially ) is commonly held to derive from the Medieval Greek phrase (pronounced ), which means "to the city" and is how Constantinople was referred to by the local Greeks. This reflected its status as the only major city in the vicinity. The