The city of

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

is at a geographic crossroads, straddling Europe and

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, and is divided by a sea lane called the

Bosphorus Strait The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...

, which joins the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

in the northeast and the

Marmara Sea The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the ...

in the southwest. This strait has played a key role in the history of the city.

Operator Companies

Istanbul Sea Buses

The city's largest

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

operator, Istanbul Sea Buses (İstanbul Deniz Otobusleri, İDO), runs a combination of all-passenger and car-and-passenger ferries to ports on both sides of the Bosphorus, as far as the

., with additional destinations around the Sea of Marmara. Until it was privatized in April 2011, İDO ran the largest municipal ferry operation in the world.

Turyol

Another smaller ferry company, Turyol, provides frequent services on routes from Eminönü,

Kabataş, Beyoğlu Kabataş is a busy waterside area of Beyoğlu municipality on the European shore of the Bosphorus between Karaköy and Beşiktaş in Istanbul, Turkey. It is a major transport interchange served by the T1 tram line to Bağcılar and the funicul ...

and

Karaköy Karaköy (), the modern name for the old Galata, is a commercial quarter in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, located at the northern part of the Golden Horn mouth on the European side of Bosphorus. Karaköy is one of the oldest an ...

to ports at

Üsküdar Üsküdar () is a large and densely populated district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the Anatolian shore of the Bosphorus. It is bordered to the north by Beykoz, to the east by Ümraniye, to the southeast by Ataşehir and to the south by Kadıköy; ...

Haydarpaşa Haydarpaşa is a neighborhood within the Kadıköy and Üsküdar districts on the Asian part of Istanbul, Turkey. Haydarpaşa is named after Ottoman Vizier Haydar Pasha. The place, on the coast of Sea of Marmara, borders to Harem in the northwest ...

and

Kadıköy Kadıköy (), known in classical antiquity and during the Roman and Byzantine eras as Chalcedon ( gr, Χαλκηδών), is a large, populous, and cosmopolitan district in the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey, on the northern shore of the Sea ...

, among others.

History

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 link for many thousands of commuters, tourists and vehicles per day. The first private steam ferries (called ''vapur'' in Turkish :tr:Vapur), crossed the Bosphorus in 1837. The first ferries were wooden paddle boats and were later replaced by iron and steel screw ships. The city authorities took over the fleet and formed a Şirket-i Hayriye (boat company) in 1945. Several generations of ferries have served the city since and are now powered by fuel-burning engines. Many were built by the

Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited was a Scottish shipbuilding company in the Govan area on the Clyde in Glasgow. Fairfields, as it is often known, was a major warship builder, turning out many vessels for the Royal Navy ...

, Glasgow, Scotland, and have sailed the

Golden Horn The Golden Horn ( tr, Altın Boynuz or ''Haliç''; grc, Χρυσόκερας, ''Chrysókeras''; la, Sinus Ceratinus) is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey. As a natural estuary that connects with t ...

and the Bosphorus for decades. These white, black and green boats have gone on to become iconic in the modern popular culture of the city. One was featured in the James Bond film '' From Russia with Love'', while more recently a new-generation and therefore historically inaccurate ferry appeared momentarily in the 2012 film '' Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'', which was set in the 1970s. The last steam-powered ferry ran until 2003. A new generation of boats, designed by Fairfield but built in Istanbul, came into operation in the 2000s, gradually replacing the decades-old fleet. In the past few decades, the ferries have been partially replaced by the two Bosphorus bridges, the

Marmaray The Marmaray () is a intercontinental commuter rail line in Istanbul, Turkey. A rail tunnel running under the Bosphorus strait was connected to an upgraded version of the old suburban train service (known as the banliyö), allowing trains ...

rail tunnel, fast catamarans and water taxis.

Passenger Ferries

*Total number of passenger boats is 38. *On average, the boats are at least 20 years old.

Gallery

Image:Topkapi Palace Hagia Sophia Blue Mosque.jpg, A vapur with the

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace ( tr, Topkapı Sarayı; ota, طوپقپو سرايى, ṭopḳapu sarāyı, lit=cannon gate palace), or the Seraglio, is a large museum in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the compl ...

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

and the Blue Mosque in the background File:Mehmet Akif Ersoy off Istanbul.jpg, Ferry in Istanbul File:Istanbul Ausflugsschiff Yeni Marmara (02).jpg, A Turyol ferry on the

Bosporus The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...

Image:Istanbul2010.jpg, Istanbul: an aerial overview of the historical Sultanahmet and

Galata Galata is the former name of the Karaköy neighbourhood in Istanbul, which is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn. The district is connected to the historic Fatih district by several bridges that cross the Golden Horn, most nota ...

district File:Kaptan Gündüz Aybay ferry on the Bosphorus 20110619 133941.jpg, ''Kaptan Gündüz Aybay'' ferry on the Bosphorus

References

Additional sources

* * *

External links

English-language website of ''Şehir Hatları'' (City Boat Lines) company
{{Public Transport in İstanbul Ferries of Turkey Public transport in Istanbul