Day 3: Across the Dardanelles

Around 1800 hrs local time Thursday the Bulgarian military research/survey vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii entered the Dardanelles, underway across the Sea of Marmara en route to the Bulgarian Antarctic Base on Livingston Island in the South Shetlands.

The ship is scheduled to enter the Aegean in some four hours, Captain Nikolai Danailov told BTA. 

Upon entering the Dardanelles, the Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii passed under the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, connecting the coastal towns of Lapseki (Lampsaka), on the Asian side, and Gelibolu (Gallipoli), on the European coast, spanning the strait.

The bridge was officially opened by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on March 18, 2022 after roughly five years of construction, the ceremony itself being dedicated to the 102nd anniversary of the date of the Ottoman naval victory at Canakkale in World War I. 

It takes just six minutes to cover its 4,608 m span, the longest suspension bridge in the world.

The construction of the facility involved 5,100 people and 740 pieces of construction equipment. The distance between the two abutments of the bridge is exactly 2,023 metres - in honour of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkiye, which will be celebrated in 2023. Elements of the bridge are coloured in the colours of the Turkish flag - red and white. The tops of the towers of the structure look like cannons, which symbolise the victory at the Dardanelles. The total height of each of the bridge's two towers is 318 metres. 

The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge is the fourth bridge connecting the European and Asian coasts of Turkey (the other three are in Istanbul), providing a road link between the two coasts, which was previously provided by ferries.

The Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii is expected to proceed to the Aegean and Greek territorial waters.

The ship's first historic voyage to Livingston Island is expected to take some 40 days. It will support the 31st Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition.