Why is it said that the City was not conquered, but surrendered? Why did not all the besieged participate in its defense? Why did the future patriarch Gennadius curse the struggling Constantine Palaiologos? Why did the Conqueror declare that by taking the City, he took the "revenge of the Trojans"? Do the Greeks of the City have a "Byzantine" origin? What did the emperors of Romania wear? Why was Romania considered "Byzantium after Byzantium"? Why did the Jews of the City speak Spanish? Why do the Phanariots have a bad reputation? Why did Gregory V curse the Greek Revolution? Why do most Greek Orthodox of the City have Turkish as their first language? Why have the Russian secret services declared war on the Ecumenical Patriarchate? Why do the present-day Turks drink much more tea than coffee? Why was the Ottoman City full of wooden buildings and when and how did they disappear?

In these and many other questions, this travelogue seeks answers, both in the pages of history and in the streets of the City itself. It invites the reader to explore a historical area of Constantinople along the Golden Horn. The streets, buildings, and their ruins reflect the journey of a city in constant transformation: the transition from Byzantine to Ottoman City and from there to the metropolis of today. At the same time, it outlines aspects of the tense and contradictory Turkish society of our days.