Istanbul

"It is a wonderfully evocative guidebook that is a great pleasure to read. When I first went to Istanbul, in the 60s, it was newly produced and was the fullest and most complete guidebook – I was astonished by the detail. The authors had walked around and made sense of the city in a way that was very thrilling. I strolled through these different parts of Istanbul with my copy of their book which was a joy to read. It is still a great introduction to the many layers of the city: it starts from the top layer, which is the contemporary world, and goes deeper and deeper into the past. Yes. There was a good deal of destruction in the 20s and then there was another rather more restricted wave in the 50s when Greek merchants were more or less driven out of the bazaar. Those two 20th century events were very damaging to the non-Turkish communities. But today there are many more Greeks visiting Istanbul and the new détente between Turkey and Armenia, which we have seen just recently, is a positive development towards a greater degree of openness, toleration and support for the minorities. Istanbul is a very cosmopolitan city and this cosmopolitanism, which is very Byzantine, enlivens everything. Istanbul is going to be cultural capital of Europe in 2010, and the Turks are determined to make this an appreciation of their very long culture. Byzantium will certainly get a good platform. I hope the Greek and other communities will also feel that their presence has been acknowledged as well. Istanbul has a wonderfully mixed and complex society and this should be something to cherish rather than ignore or try and remove."

"Here is a lovely book that is very different from the ones presented above. Turkey cannot be understood without understanding its Ottoman past. Modern-day Turkey, of course, is very different from the Ottoman Empire. But a grasp of the Ottoman, as well as the Byzantine empires, is important to see the background of this country. As a novelist I find the Ottoman Empire fascinating, the stories and the subjects so rich. “Turkey cannot be understood without understanding its Ottoman past” Freely’s book takes us on a beautiful tour and when we come back we feel stimulated, inspired, both spiritually and intellectually. One of the things that I most like about this book is the way it pays attention to daily life, popular legends, and ordinary people, not only to palace intricacies, court etiquette or historical monuments. One learns a lot while reading this book but at the same time one ‘feels’ a lot. Well, I have always felt that Istanbul had a personality of her own. A she-city. A female personality. And I find this in Freely’s book too. As you turn the pages you read the biography of a she-city, rather than pure, abstract, historical information about a place. He brings the city’s vibrant energy and intensity to the fore."