Dardanelles & Kilitbahir

Can you put a lock on a sea? Had we asked Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, he would probably have smiled and pointed to the narrowest point of the Dardanelles… The fortresses he built in 1462 on its two facing shores were to close the strait like a door; the one on the European side was named Kilitbahir, “the lock of the sea”, and the one on the Asian side Kale-i Sultaniye. That fortress, which we now call Çimenlik Castle, stands directly opposite, on the waterfront of Çanakkale.