Along the Bosphorus Turkish: Boğaz, but Boğaziçi—literally “inside the Bosphous”—is preferred when refering to the areas on the bank of Bosphorus, rather than the Bosphorus itself, the strait that lies between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, and separating Europe and Asia, lies a number of neighborhoods each with a different character possibly due to the fact that they all started as seperate fishing villages and some are still physically seperated from each other by lush woodlands, palaces of the late Ottoman period, and parks. This is quite easily one of the most scenic—yet largely overlooked by travellers—parts of Istanbul, which reaches its zenith during late spring especially in early May, when the Judas trees Turkish: Erguvan, Latin: Cercis siliquastrum, which are some sort of symbol of the Bosphorus and dotting the hills along the Bosphorus, are in full bloom of their deep-pink flowers that engulf both shores of the strait.
This article concentrates on European bank of Bosphorus. For the Asian bank, see Istanbul/Asian Side.
