Yeah, not a chance of any shore time. This should be a very quick mobilisation... crew on at 9am and off to the Black Sea ASAP. Most of the time will probably be taken up by bureaucracy.


We travelled up the Dardanelles during the morning at 12 knots. The pilot must have had plans for Friday night.



There was a beautiful old castle on the northern European side at a pinch point in the straits.





I tried to get a nice pic, but...



That's better.




From Wikipedia...

Kilitbahir Castle (Turkish: Kilitbahir Kalesi) is a fortress on the west side of the Dardanelles, opposite the city of Çanakkale, where there is a corresponding fortress (Kale-i Sultaniye), from which Çanakkale takes its name. The two castles were constructed by Fatih Sultan Mehmet in 1463 to control the straits at their narrowest point. Kilitbahir's name, meaning "lock of the sea", reflects this defensive purpose.


I didn't see the corresponding castle on the Asian side in Canakkale. That area just seemed to be very residential and industrial.




Past the castle was some kind of monument up on the hill.



No idea what it says... maybe BB can help?



And a flag on the hill. All of the interest seemed to be on the northern European side.



We left that pinch point behind...



And approached the second. I still found it cool to be sailing between two continents.



Europe off the port and Asia off the starboard.



But we left that behind and headed on to the Marmara Sea and on to Istanbul