There was a time when the second Rome was the center of everything. Ships from all over the then known world docked in the Bosphorus in the port of Constantinople. In fact, the Vikings arrived there going up the rivers through a territory that would later be called Russia. Arabs, Iberians, Italians arrived across the Mare Nostrum. Palaces on the sea, endless sunsets and then markets, bazaars, caravans, spices, treasures… A capital of an empire that could only last forever. That part of Europe that smells of the East, that part of Asia that touches the West. A sensual rum as seductive as an oriental dance that leads to oblivion. An undulating rhythm of round, opulent, “glittering” scents of the East. Imagine the scent of gold and then myrrh, paprika sesame and freshly roasted dried fruits. In the mouth aphrodisiac notes which incites us to leave brakes and inhibitions and lose ourselves in the alley of Istanbul in the company only of ourselves.
“If a man were given the chance of a single look at the world, it is Istanbul he should look at. ” (Alphonse De Lamartine)
