It looks like a really mind-boggling place to visit--and a great setting for some urban fantasy, maybe. Whenever you have a juxtaposition of cultures, it seems like it's ripe for epic fiction to happen in the midst of it all.

Did you notice how the cultural atmosphere was in regards to women? When I was in Turkey this year I noticed how much more open women were in public than six years ago--far more liberal than it had been in 2001 (as far as apparel was concerned, at the very least).