A remarkable view of the world's most enchanting and imperial city, capital of Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires."Surrounded by a garland of waters" on the narrow straits of the Bosporus dividing Europe and Asia, Istanbul -- formerly known as Constantinople -- has been an unrivaled locus of cultural exchange since its beginnings as the Greek colony Byzantium. In its more than twenty-six centuries of existence the city has survived countless natural and political catastrophes, foreign conques ...