History The Dardanelles are a Turkish strait connecting the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean Sea; its shores are formed by the Gallipoli peninsula on the northwest and the mainland of Anatolia on the southeast. It is around 40 miles long and 1–4 miles wide. Called Hellespont in ancient times, it was the scene of the legend of Hero and Leander; its modern name is derived from Dardanus, an ancient Greek city on its Asian shore. Controlling navigation between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, the Dardanelles and the Bosporus straits have long been of immense commercial and strategic importance. The Dardanelles was the scene of bitter fighting between Allied and Turkish troops during World War I, most notably the operations at Gallipoli 1915. Xerxes I, king of Persia, crossed (c.481 BC) the strait over a bridge of boats, as did Alexander the Great in 334 BC. The Straits were essential to the defense of Constantinople (Istanbul) throughout the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. By 1402, the Dardanelles were under Ottoman control and the passage remained, with brief interruptions, in Turkish hands until the present. From the 18th century, Russian expansion along the Black Sea became of great concern to Western powers, and in 1841 England, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia agreed to close the straits to all but Turkish warships; this convention was reaffirmed by the Congress of Paris (1856) at the end of the Crimean War, and remained theoretically in force until World War I.

After a busy day, the bus took us to Canakkale, where we stayed for the night. Our hotel was right at the waterfront and there they also had a Trojan horse.

There were a number of small fishing boats in the harbor.

A view from our hotel balcony.

The next morning our bus was loaded on a ferry along with a number of other vehicles, including cement and gravel trucks.

A war memorial on the hill opposite the harbor.

Sailing across the strait.

Approaching the dock on the other side, which is the European part of Turkey.

An interesting war memorial there.

Our next, and last, stop is Istanbul.