Orhan Pamuk has written an article in the New York Times about his friend the Armenian photographer Ara Güler, who just died. The pictures show Istanbul of the 1950s with its unusual wood and stone houses and black, streamlined American cars. I’ve never been there but I will even if it’s no longer quite as he depicted it.
A Bad Guide 
Wonderful photos and a wonderful article; thanks for sharing them! I was lucky enough to meet Pamuk once, and lucky enough to spend a week in Istanbul, and I wish I could repeat both experiences but I know I won’t.
Wow. I don’t think we’d object to hearing more about that. I felt sure you’d enjoy the link.
Well, not much to tell. I met him at a reading and exchanged the usual pleasantries (“I love your writing”/”Thank you very much”); I did the usual tourist things in Istanbul (mosques, markets, Turkish bath), but what I really enjoyed was just walking the streets and marveling at the intermingling of all eras of history, Greco-Roman columns next to Ottoman structures and modern shops. Had great food as well, including the best baklava I ever had in my life (don’t tell the Greeks).
Yes, I love intermingled eras too. Apart from Hagia Sophia and the wooden houses what I’d most like to see is the tiled kiosk Çinili Köşk, 1472, at the Topkapi Palace and the yalis (houses on the water) of Yeniköy, in Sarıyer, on the European side of the Bosphorus, which look a bit like a conjectural suburb of Venice. I might mention the baklava at my local Turkish grocery store.