1915 Çanakkale Köprüsü

At around 4:30a, Mui woke me up to say that Insignia was approaching the brand new 1915 Çanakkale Bridge. Claimed to be the world’s longest suspension bridge, it spans the Dardanelles.

There are many symbolic elements associated with the bridge. The length of the main span is 2,023 meters … in honor of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey, which will be celebrated on 23 April next year. The height of each tower is 318 meters and the bridge was put into service on 18 March (aka 3/18). Both of these numbers, and the 1915 in the name of the bridge, are in honor of the Ottoman naval victory on 18 March 1915 … the date on which the tide of the campaign turned against the invasion forces. The white lights and the red-colored towers are representative of the Turkish flag.

Hopefully, we will be able to see the bridge at a more decent hour when we transit the Dardanelles after our overnight in İstanbul.Read more