The real beauty of Constantinople is in its water. Water everywhere, clear blue and shimmering; away to the far south the serene face of the placid Sea of Marmora, the Archipelago leading into it, and beyond the Dardanelles forming the channel to the Grecian seas…
This immensity of water is wonderful: coming from one knows not where, disappearing one knows not how, ever kissing the shores as it entwines itself in every view, and lending such a strange and marvellous grace to all it touches…
A watery mystery mingling with everyday life, magical and strange! What scenes does it unfold! What memories does it awaken! Mythic, poetic,actual!
The Diary of an Idle Woman in Constantinople, Frances Elliot (1892)
Asia meets Europe