Istanbul is being transformed at full speed; it is a melting pot of cultures and a meeting point of continents. The city has already shed the skin of its history and invented itself anew numerous times, and perhaps this is now taking place again. To comprehend Istanbul, one must understand its history. Whoever strolls through its quarters today will constantly catch a glimpse of its history, tiny stones of a mosaic on which the inhabitants of Istanbul have been working for centuries and which will never be finished because they are constantly reinventing not only their city, but themselves. This book deals with 111 unusual mosaic stones from yesterday, today and tomorrow - some of which glow in colourful splendour, while others emanate an uncanny fragrance. AUTHOR: Marcus X. Schmid, born in Switzerland in 1950, is the author of a number of travel books and works as a translator. He has been visiting Istanbul regularly since 1981, and is fascinated by the hectic development of this metropolis - but also by its history, traces of which he finds at every stop, as well as by the manifold culinary spectrum to be found on the Bosporus. Haluk Uluhan, born in 1956, lives in Istanbul and has been an impassioned photographer of people and landscapes in his homeland for 35 years. As a professional travel guide, he gets around a lot, affording him opportunities to explore Turkey and Istanbul through the lens of his camera, with ever-changing perspectives. 115 colour illustrations
