ferry landing, I saw a second Istanbul, new to me: stately, drooping trees, fine stone and wooden houses, apartment buildings that could have been lifted from a Parisian neighborhood, neat sidewalks, pots of flowers, ornamented cornices. Here and there the old Islamic empire erupted in the form of a ruined arch or an isolated mosque, a Turkish house with an overhanging second story. But on Turgut's street, the West had made a genteel and thorough sweep. Later I saw its counterparts in other cities - Prague and Sofia, Budapest and Moscow, Belgrade and Beirut. That borrowed elegance had been borrowed all over the East.
"'Please to enter.' Turgut stopped in front of a row of old houses, ushered us up the double front stair, and checked inside a little mailbox - apparently empty - that carried the name PROFESOR BORA. He opened the door and stepped aside. 'Please, welcome to my abode, where everything is yours. I am sorry that my wife is out - she teaches at the nursery school.'
"We came first into a hall with a polished wooden floor and walls, where we followed Turgut in taking off our shoes and putting on the embroidered slippers he gave us. Then he showed us into a sitting room, and Helen sounded a low note of admiration, which I could not help echoing. The room was filled with a pleasant greenish light, mixed with soft pink and yellow. I realized after a moment that this was sunlight filtering through a blend of trees outside two large windows with hazy curtains of an old white lace. The room was lined with extraordinary furniture, very low, carved of dark wood, and cushioned in rich fabrics. Around three walls ran a bench heaped with lace-covered pillows. Above this, the whitewashed walls were lined with prints and paintings of Istanbul, a portrait of an old man in a fez and one of a younger man in a black suit, a framed parchment covered with fine Arabic calligraphy. There were fading sepia photographs of the city and cabinets lined with brass coffee services. The corners were filled with colorfully glazed vases brimming with roses. Underfoot lay deep rugs in crimson, rose, and soft green. In the very center of the room, a great round tray on legs stood empty, highly polished, as if waiting for the next meal.
"'It is very beautiful,' Helen said, turning to our host, and I remembered how lovely she could look when sincerity relaxed the hard lines around her mouth and eyes. 'It is like the Arabian Nights. '
"Turgut laughed and waved off the compliment with a large hand, but he was clearly pleased. 'That is my wife,' he said. 'She loves our old arts and crafts, and her family passed down to her many fine things. Perhaps there is even a little something from Sultan Mehmed's empire here.' He smiled at me. 'I do not make the coffee as well as she does - that is what she tells me - but I will give you my best effort.' He settled us on the low furniture, close together, and I thought with contentment about all those time-honored objects signifying comfort: cushion, divan, and - after all - ottoman.
"Turgut's best effort turned out to be lunch, which he brought in from a small kitchen across the hall, refusing our earnest offers of help. How he had rustled up a meal in such a short time eluded my imagination - it must have been waiting for him there. He brought in trays of sauces and salads, a bowl of melon, a stew of meat and vegetables, skewers of chicken, the ubiquitous cucumber-and-yogurt mixture, coffee, and an avalanche of sweets rolled in almonds and honey. We ate heartily, and Turgut urged food on us until we were groaning. 'Well,' he said, 'I cannot let my wife think I have starved you.' All this was followed by a glass of water with something white and sweet sitting on a plate next to it. 'Attar of roses,' Helen said, tasting it. 'Very nice. They have this in Romania, too.' She dropped a little of the white paste into her glass and drank it, and I followed suit. I wasn't sure what the water might do to my digestion later, but it was not the moment for such worries.
"When we were nearly bursting, we leaned back against the low divans - I now understood their use, recovery after a large meal - and Turgut looked at