Narrow and wide streets with masses roaming on them. Millions of people like ants in a great terraria. Only the unbreakable laws of nature being the glass, the borders for us. Heralds, doctors, legists and men of faith. Churches with gravity defying towers, mosques and their countless minarets. All decorated with stone, gold and ornaments.
You make your way through the sea of citizens. The Grand Bazhaar is bursting with items of trade. As its name implies, it's the greatest marketplace in the city, but not the only one. Here in its many lanes and booths, the money and the goods change their owners. Scent of spices overwhelm your nostrils and you find something new. Rich coloured cloths are embroided in every shade you can imagine. Sometimes the loud chatter stops and people step aside, showing respect for their superior. Guardsmen are on their hourly patrol, clad in emerald and orange.
The Sun is soon setting and you decide to leave. The thought of being in shady alleys during the prime time of criminality doesn't inspire you. As you stroll down the street and admire the architecture you cannot but keep pondering the city's beauty. As you arrive at the harbor, you take a ferry across the waterway, to the other side of the town. You pay for the ride and give some extra gold for the driver. You pick up your things and head for a drink. The local beverage isn't the best one you have had, but it's not the worst - having heard that decades ago, during the war, people had to mix water with the alcohol as the wine was scarce.
You sip up your drink, pay and leave for the last place to visit tonight. Although the streets being narrow in this district of the town, you find it easier to navigate with less people walking around. After few moments you find what you were looking for: the tallest tower in the city. Your legs ache as you take a step after another, thinking that the stairs will never end.
But your struggle was worthwhile: Standing on the balcony, you see the Haliç - or Khrysókeras, as the last owners of the city did call it - gleaming with the Sun. On the horizon, you see the seven hills all in green. The Sun casts its last rays on the domes of the red coloured mosque and its domes shine with gold. Not far from it, there's a smaller version of it and the Imperial Palace.
What a magnificent place to rule, to live in, to breathe in.
This, and much much more is the Queen of Cities.
The Crossroads of the World.
