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Istanbul, a fascinating city built on two Continents, divided by the Bosphorus Strait. This is one of the greatest cities in the world where you can see a modern western city combined with a traditional eastern city, it's a melting pot of many civilizations and different people. Istanbul was also announced by the European Union as the 2010 European Capital of Culture.
From the foundation of Byzantium in the 7th century BC until today, Istanbul held always an important role in the history of humanity in this part of the world. Everybody wanted to gain control of this area because of its strategic location; Empires were born here on the ashes of previous ones.
Since the Republic in 1923, Istanbul continued to grow and today it boosted its population over 14 million people living in this spread out city. This makes Istanbul the largest city of Turkey and one of the biggest cities in the world.
Bosphorus
Bosphorus is a natural strait connecting the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, thus being a very strategic waterway. It was a river in the valley during the Tertiary period of the continents, which was drowned by the sea at the end of this period. It's length is 32 kilometers (20 miles) in the north to south direction, width varies between 730-3300 meters (800-3600 yards), and depth is between 30-120 meters (100-395 feet). Bosphorus strait separates the European part from the Asian part of Istanbul. The surface current flows always from north to south; however, a strong countercurrent under the surface creates swirls and eddies.