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A: I’ve always loved cruising on the traditional Istanbul ferryboats. Often I’d just board any boat and ride it to wherever it was going, then ride it back, sitting on the upper stern deck in the open air with a glass of fresh, hot, strong Turkish tea in my hand. Since the construction of the Bosphorus bridges and the advent of fast catamaran “sea bus” ferries, the old traditional ferries have been disappearing. They used to be the main traffic in the Bosphorus, making a real light show at night as their powerful spotlights swept the sea lanes looking to avoid fishing skiffs. Now they are fewer, but just as pleasurable. One thing about Istanbul hasn’t changed and never will: the joy of dining with friends, Turkish-style. Gather a group of six to ten, allow at least five hours, order at least three dozen mezes (hors d’oeuvres) and bottles of wine and rakı, linger over them for two hours, then order the main course (serious consultations with the waiter), then dessert, then Turkish coffee, then a pousse-café liqueur, then go home to bed, regretful that it’s over.

Q: Since you started your Web site, where do you most prefer to go in Turkey?

A: Istanbul, first and foremost Istanbul, always Istanbul! I can’t think of a place in Turkey I wouldn’t like to visit, but nowadays, with the seacoasts booming with tourism, I find myself drawn to many nontouristy places: the farming towns of the Aegean hinterland, the Black Sea coast, the East. It’s a nostalgic trip, in a way. These less-developed places retain some of the innocence and courtly welcome that I found everywhere during my first years in Turkey. There’s still plenty to see and do off the beaten track: natural wonders like beautiful lakes and mysterious caves, rolling vistas and craggy mountains, and everywhere—everywhere!—the impressive remains of the past: Hittite, Hellenic, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Selçuk, Ottoman. And the food’s always wonderful, no matter where you are in Turkey.

Istanbul

I am listening to Istanbul, intent, my eyes closed …

—ORHAN VELI KANIK, Turkish poet, 1914-50

For much of human history it has been the greatest city on earth.

—A Hedonist’s Guide to Istanbul

To arrive in Constantinople on a fine morning, believe me, that’s an unforgettable moment in one’s life.

—ALEV LYTLE CROUTIER,

The Palace of Tears

Istanbul is a hodgepodge of ten million lives. It is an open book of ten million scrambled stories. Istanbul is waking up from its perturbed sleep, ready for the chaos of the rush hour. From now on there are too many prayers to answer, too many profanities to note, and too many sinners, as well as too many innocents, to keep an eye on. Already it is morning in Istanbul.

—ELIF SHAFAK,

The Bastard of Istanbul

Istanbul

Still

The cistern

whispers the venom of Byzantium

of love dying of thirst

of God a suicide

when the old fisherman

pulls the nets

out of the Bosphorus

buried in each fish

he finds a harlot

In the Seraglio

The tulip-beds herald

The mute requiem of defeat

death is a naked dervish

whirling to the echo

of the chief eunuch’s laughter

There is

No God

but God

there is

shadow is all

First earthquakes plagues are God’s obeisance

One concubine remains the eternal virgin

The last noble calligraphy

That takes the leap

from fate

the minaret

without a mosque

The sun feels ashamed

To rise inside the domes of poverty

The cathedral’s mosaics have forgotten

long ago

how to shed tears

inspiring nothing but whitewash

God has decided

He is neither Kingdom

Nor Sultanate

His own sultry odalisque

Istanbul understands

but feels too weary to forgive

—TALÂT SAİT HALMAN

TALÂT SAİT HALMAN served as the first minister of culture of the Turkish Republic. He is currently Professor and Chairman, Department of Turkish Literature, and Dean of Humanities and Letters, Bilkent University in Ankara. He has been on the faculties of Columbia, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania, and from 1986 to 1996 he chaired the Department of