Bridge Between Two Continents
Tuesday, 16th August 2005 by Alex Turnbull
This is the Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey. Interestingly, as the Bosporus strait is the boundary between Europe and Asia, the bridge actually connects two continents. In May 2005 tennis star Venus Williams played a show game on the bridge, making it the only game of tennis to be played on two continents (Wikipedia entry).
Just beside the Bosporus Bridge is an absolutely huge tanker, has anyone seen one bigger than this?
Further north up the Bosporus strait is another bridge which joins Europe with Asia, the Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge (Wikipedia entry).
Thanks: Martin Willey, Marc Armstrong, Jonathan Rawle, deniz erdem, Serkan Kasapbasi, Seref
About the author
Alex has decided that his title will be Senior Vice President of Stuff.
Just in case anyone else is interested, just a little further south along the Bosphorus is Maiden’s Tower (or Kizkulesi), the lighthouse that featured in the Bond movie “The World is Not Enough”: View Placemark
Although these two bridges connect the continents of Europe and Asia, both side appear to be Turkey! Is this correct? Are there other countries that span continents?
The “border” between Europe and Asia is ambiguous at best. From what I’ve learned, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Azerbaijan all have parts in both Asia and Europe. The usual boundry between Africa and Asia follows the Suez Canal, making Egypt transcontinental. Also depending where you draw the line between Asia and Oceania, Indonesia could be considred in either Asia or Oceania, but not usually both. The final transcontinental nation is Panama, as the division between the Americas lies down the Panama Canal.
BTW, Johnathan, I was looking for the lighthouse but couldn’t find it. Thanks for pointing it out.
Russia is the only other one that come to mind. West of the Ural Mountains it’s Europe, while the rest is Asia.
There is a container ship in gibralter, just south west of the airport that is about 200 ft longer than the tanker.
There’s a small part of Turkey on the European side. Of course, Europe and Asia being different continents is purely a geographical convention.
Gannet, is this the Panmax sized container ship you’re talking about?
Massive cargo ship.
Egypt spans Africa and Asia, with the Suez Canal being the dividing point. There’s a few other trivial ones, like France spanning Europe and South America because of French Guiana, or Spain being in Africa too because of the Canary Islands.
There is another large ship near Gibraltar here:
View Placemark
“Gannet, is this the Panmax sized container ship you’re talking about?” that’s huge! but thats a tug boat compared to the Jahre Viking, $5 to anyone who can find that friggin boat!
Another large ship, not on the sea but in the harbour of Hambourg.
View Placemark
Hi…I am from Istanbul..If you have not been to Istanbul yet, I am sorry for you. You do not know what you are missing….Istanbul is an excellent city for people into arts, history, and music. There are tons of good bars and restaurants. Istanbul loves… Oh! That’s another story……
this is istanbul: http://gallery.istanbul.gov.tr/Default.aspx?pid=637&year=2005&month=7&picid=6649
Some of the largest structures afloat are the barge/towboats that ply the lower mississippi river. Each barge is 200feet, with a capacity of 14 rail cars. That puts this one (and i’ve been aboard larger) at 1580 feet in length (adding 180 for the huge boat pushing it all upstream) with a cargo equivalent to that of a train nearly 400 cars long!
Can any Turkish prisons be seen on Google Maps?
(Humming the theme to Midnight Express…)
Actually the Jahre Viking has been renamed the Knock Nevis.. http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Knock-Nevis
What a bunch of names for 1 ship LOL still no luck in finding it.. but it wouldve still been the jahre viking in most of these maps if found I guess since it was refitted at dubai and renamed the Knock nevis in march 2004
Interesting bridge. I noticed toll booths only in the eastbound direction. Westbound traffic getting a free ride, or am I missing something?
…. on the second bridge, that is…
>If you have not been to Istanbul yet, I am sorry for you.
Me too, I’ve always wanted to go – one of my top dream destinations.
Speaking of which, has anyone been able to find the Hagia Sophia on the maps? I’m having no luck at all and would love to see it – it’s one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, from what I’ve seen.
Otter
galata kulesi… photo gallery…
The Sophia is in the older part of the city, which aggravatingly enough is the only part of Istanbul which seems to be in low-res. Follow the waterway towards the Aegean and you’ll hit the low-res area; the Sophia’s just south of the green area at the tip of the peninsula.
Yes, you pay one-way. Simple logic, you have to cross either bridge once again to go back to where you are coming from. So, for saving time, it’s planned that way.
Galto Says: August 19th, 2005 at 12:54 pm
Interesting bridge. I noticed toll booths only in the eastbound direction. Westbound traffic getting a free ride, or am I missing something?
Where Chris G pointed out where the large ship we were talking about is, i noticed some strange objects in the water, does anyone know what these are (And i am sorry but, i don’t know how to make the thing so you can all see it) The objects are north of it.. can anyone tell me what they are, and how to make a link so you can all see what i’m talking about. Thanks
—-^ Thanks if you tried to help, but my brain helped me out.
Jack, for information on how to link to a map location, please see the ‘How can I send you cool pictures I’ve found?’ entry in our faq.
However, do you mean these things? Which look a little like diving platforms to me maybe?
I meant these View Placemark
Jack, I think those are some aquaculture pens of some sort, I’ve seen salmon pens that look like that, but I don’t know if Turkey (or the Mediterranean!) is particularly known for salmon! You can see some buoys surrounding the groups of pens, and even some boats in there tending the “flocks”, but what is being raised there, I don’t know!
Knock Nevis – here is a picture of it moored in Qatar as a floating Oil storage unit.
View Placemark
i also put this link into wikipedia.
Funny that this ship and the one above look pretty similar!
Hagia Sofia: View Placemark
These two bridges(Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and Bosphorus Bridge) are two of the best bridges in the world and Fatih Sultan Mehmet is a person who took Ä°stanbul from Bizans.
not to start any thing but the hagia sofia is originally greek as a lot of istanbul is but it still is a beautiful city
the biggest ship i found on ge is the emma maersk in odense denmark but im still looking for the knock nevis