Then suddenly the coastline parted slightly, and a gap appeared in the hills and groves, growing wider by the minute. Though the appearance of the coast did not change – it remained the same hills and vegetation, the same houses with the same roofs – the land off the starboard side of the ship had oddly become Europe, and off the port side Asia. Between the Rumeli cape on the European side and the Feneri cape on the Asian side I could observe a strong current that bore our ship along the way a whirlpool draws in a piece of driftwood. Eventually we raised the Turkish flag on the foremast: a crescent moon and a star on red. A boat drew close and stuck close to the ship’s side. A gray-haired pilot climbed up to guide us.
Hour after hour we passed down that narrow strait along the picturesque
