Introduction

Next article: Arrival, Grand Bazaar, Shoreline Reflections

NE LOOK AT a map will tell you almost everything you need to know about Istanbul.

It is the only point where (mostly) land traversal is possible between Asia and Europe, within a continually temperate climate. To the north lies the Black Sea, with the much less temperate and mountainous Balkans north of that. To the south lies the vastness of the Mediterranean Sea - the middle earth sea - and North Africa beyond, with no connection offered to Europe, except perhaps at Gibraltar: an inhospitable rock at the often violent border between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean seas.

Thus, the great caravans have traversed through here since certainly the days of the Roman Empire, bringing spices and silks from the east and hard goods from the west. The result has been a grand mixing not only of goods and services, but of people and cultures. In more modern times, the fabled Orient Express terminated here from Paris: beyond Istanbul, you were no longer under the auspices of European transport, or trains that ran on time.

Istanbul has been the center of two major empires: Constantine relocated the seat of the Roman Empire here, taking advantage of this crossroads point of land as a more central locale from which to administer the vast reaches of the Empire - an attempt to steady the impending decline.

And then the Ottomans - the Sultans who displaced the Romans and spread their influence into Europe as far as Vienna, Spain, and the assuming rival, Venice.

Finally, it is - if not the center - certainly a confluence of two great streams of religion: Christianity and Islam. The Crusaders came through here on their way to 'liberate' the

holy land, and merchants from both cultures gathered on shores and in villages - established or new - to service the needs of the knights and their entourages passing through, some of whom must have stayed, adding to the mix.

An interesting balance of Islam and secularism dominates, now - Islam is evidenced by the many mosques set throughout the city. But a large portion of the population - and the government - is secularist in nature.

For our part, we have arrived at the end of a cruise from Greece. We have already touched the Turkish shore at Kusadasi and Ephesus, and passed through the great Dardenelles.

Now, it is time to venture forth into the great city...

Scribo, ergo sum.

Introduction

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