One of the most common sights in the old city on a busy summer day is a group of tourists, armed with cameras, following their tour guide. Most of these tourists arrive on ocean liners for visits usually shorter than a day. They do not have enough time to discover the poetic off--the-beaten-path Istanbul. Yet, my experience as a tour guide has taught me that among these tourists there are so many who have the insight to penetrate into the real world of Istanbul and see what is beyond the visible. This book, in a way, is written for such travelers. The tourists we guide often admit that after visiting so many historic sites squeezed in a package tour, they find themselves confusing AD with BC, churches with mosques, or Sultan Süleyman with King Salomon. As a tour guide, I have always tried to be conscious of this fact and not to forget that, as they cast a last glance at Istanbul from the deck of their ocean liners bound for the Marmara, all they should want to say is "Beautiful! What a city, what a day we've had! I got a kick out of every minute of it." . One day, when I finished a most informative lecture on the architecture of the Blue Mosque and the Islamic Religion one of the seemingly best listeners in my tour group asked "Fatih: do you think Mohamed Ali is a true Moslem?" lt is after this event that I thought I might as well write a small book about Istanbul in which I would wander around the city with a group of tourists and talk to them nonchalantly as I always do. After reading a few pages it will be evident to you that, apart from a few dates and measurements, the writer has not checked the stories, rumors or other kind of information his mind must have piled up during the years he has worked as a tour guide. His memory and time may have twisted same facts and occasionally what you find here might not agree with what you would come across in more serious books about Istanbul. At such points, his memory is the only thing to blame. This might be the reason why he has avoided including a bibliography at the end of the book. November, 1980 Istanbul Fatih Cimok

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