#14: [23-Oct-18]

#13: [20-Jun-18]

#11: [12-Apr-12]

#10: [18-Mar-12]

#7: [05-May-07]

#6: [19-Sep-06]

#8: [29-May-05]

#5: [29-Mar-04]

#4: [21-Mar-04]

#12: [08-Jun-12] (incomplete)

#9: [03-Jul-08] (incomplete)

#1: [30-Dec-01] (incomplete)

#2: [05-Nov-02] (incomplete)

06-Dec-2003 -- The day started with a feeling of heroism. The heroism was everywhere – all around the Istanbul streets, markets, museums, reflected into the eyes of the multinational cosmopolitan town (16 million according unofficial information), flashed from the head-lights of the war machine situated here, stared from the faces of the soldiers walking around, and finally fell silent into the hole of the bombed bank a few days before. The media psychosis of the bomb terrorist attack faded away. The city was full of life.

I read the stories of the people who tried to reach confluence 41N 29E before us – lusty fellows, to whom the nature made non fare tricks – rain, streams, and strong wind. 16 million habitants of this city and there wasn’t anyone interested in visiting this crosspoint in the middle of the Bosporus – that was unexplainable for me.

We needed as usual some preparation for the great moment. We rushed into the indescribable beauty of Bahçe Palace – we walked around almost 2 hours, didn't miss even the Sultan's harem – and all that not only because of tourist enthusiasm, but because we wanted the sun to go down beyond the minarets of St. Sofia and Blue Mosque – time most appropriate for taking pictures, we believed.

Finally it became time to choose our captain. From the hundreds of boats all over the Golden Horn, we hired one whose captain had wild big blue eyes. That was the captain of the boat Barbaros – a wooden, about 30 years old yacht, I thought. It looked like being big enough to survive in a stormy Bosporus, we hoped. Thanks to the help of our friends – Mary and Rüstam (she comes from Silistra, Bulgaria and is studying tourism in Istanbul, and he comes from Kazanluk, Bulgaria and is studying bank and finance, they are Bulgarian Turks), we succeeded to convince the captain of Barbaros to take us altogether to the Bosporus confluence. We told him about the idea of Confluences, but finally the more strong argument convinced him – 100 EUR.

The distance from our starting point according to our GPS was around 4 km. We passed under a bridge, connecting both coasts of the Golden Horn. There were a lot of fishermen on the bridge but they didn't become angry of our passing by because of the attitude to the tourists in this country – Turkish people make tourists feel exceptional. Some of us sat with confidence without any doubt of what could happen after a while. After 30 minutes we got in the middle of the fusion and dialog of two seas – Black one and Marmara one. We messed a little the traffic in the area, but our captain was unshakable of the signals of the other boats, ferries and yachts. He answered them hello and continued to follow our instructions.

So we reached the area of the Confluence. Three times we changed the direction into 180 degrees to come near by our aim – the most proper coordinates of the Confluence. The sea was really stormy and we looked like flags on the deck. Although everything seemed to be perfect until the dance of the Winner, the Winner after the following big wave fell down with a crash just upon the camera. The camera refused to focus for a while and that's how we missed our full zeros... After the depressing accident the Winner succeeded to concentrate himself, and repaired the camera.

We had an intention to make the next attempt to take a picture of our zeros on the GPS but a huge boat came towards ours and we decided to take away in a hurry. We made pictures of all 4 directions and towards our Confluence, too. The sun went down behind the minarets of St. Sofia and the Blue Mosque. We took our way back. And in the end of this unbelievably successful day, we made one of the most beautiful pictures, you can see it here. That was one good day for Istanbul, Turkey and the entire world.

Till this moment I'm wondering why so few people try to attack this so interesting and seducing Confluence. I am really happy that finally I realized my aspiration. I'd like to thank once again for all advices written, concerning this Confluence – they were really useful.