The Dardanelles expand into the Sea of Marmora (p. xxxiv), the ancient Propontis, a basin of comparatively recent origin (extreme depth 4450 ft.), which like the Ægean Sea has been formed by the subsidence of large portions of the earth’s surface. On the Asiatic side, beyond Kara Burun (381 ft.), lies the Bay of Artaki, on the N. margin of the ancient Troas. Adjoining the bay is the plain of the Biga Sher Chai, the ancient Granikos, where in 334 Alexander the Great won his first victory over the Persians.
On the coast of ancient Phrygia rises the peninsula of Kapu Dagh (2625 ft.; once Arktonnesos island), flanked by the Pasha Liman islands and Marmora or Marmara (2326 ft.), where white marble for Constantinople has been quarried since ancient times.
On the N. coast soon appear the villages of Sharkiöi (once Peristasis) and Hiraklitsa (Heraklea); then the town of Rodosto (Turk. Tekirdagh), and farther on, Eregli, the ancient Perinthos.
To the S. we sight the islet of Kalolimni (689 ft.; Besbikos); far beyond it are the Gulf of Mudania (or Gemlek) and the town of Brussa, at the foot of the Bithynian Olympos (8200 ft.), which is generally capped with snow.
Off the beautiful Gulf of Ismid (Nikomedeia), to the N.E., lie the Princes Islands (Iles des Princes; comp. Map, p. [557]), the ancient Demonnesoi (Turk. Kizil Adalar, ‘red islands’, so called from the colour of their ferruginous rocks).
Prinkipo, the ancient Pityusa (‘rich in pines’), the largest and most populous of these islands, attracts many excursionists from Constantinople in fine weather (local steamers, see p. [538]). On the N. side of the island lies its capital, Prinkipo (Hôt. Giacomo, déj. 5, D. 6 fr.; Hôt. Impérial, and others). Pleasant drive thence (2½ hrs. there and back; 1–2 mejidiehs; or ride, ½–1 mej.) to the highest hill on the S. side of the island, crowned with the old Monastery of St. George (656 ft.; *View).
On its way from Constantinople to Prinkipo the steamer first touches at Proti (377 ft.). To the right we see the small island of Oxia, the most westerly of the group, to which in 1910 the famous street-dogs of Constantinople were transported, and Plati (‘the flat’), also called ‘Bulwer’s Island’ after an English Ambassador who here built two now ruined castles (19th cent.) in the style of Windsor. The steamer calls also at Antigoni (542 ft.), and Chalki (446 ft.; ‘ore-island’), with a Greek commercial school and a seminary for priests.
On the flat European shore, beyond the village of Küchük Chekmekjeh on the lagoon of that name, we sight the Russian war-monument with its gleaming tower, a landmark of Constantinople, rising above the cape of San Stefano (lighthouse). A little later appears Stambul. Next, beyond the lighthouse (Phare), is seen the white mosque of Ahmed and the yellow Aya Sophia.
On the Asiatic coast, on the promontory which runs out into the beautiful Bay of Moda, there is situated, in the ancient Bithynia, Fanar Burnu or Fener Bagcheh (lighthouse). Beyond, it is Kadikiöi (Kadi Keuï), a modern suburb of Constantinople, on the site of Kalchedon or Chalcedon. Farther on are the little harbour of Haidar Pasha (p. [557]), the station of the Anatolian railway, and, at the S. end of Scutari (p. [556]), the military school of medicine, the large Selimieh Barracks, and the Selimieh Mosque.
The steamer now rounds the Seraglio Point and enters the Bosporus (p. [557]); it passes the Golden Horn, the harbour of Constantinople, and the New Bridge, and casts anchor at the Galata Quay below Pera. Landing, see below.