The Traveler’s Eye

“This splendid and original volume carries the reader across four continents, weaving together the stories of Anatolian and Turkish art, architecture, monuments and memory found far beyond Türkiye’s borders. From Cairo to Cuba, Lisbon to London, Tokyo to New York, the journey unfolds. In Venice, we see the famed bronze horses of Saint Mark’s Basilica, once galloping atop the Hippodrome in what is now Istanbul. But we are also introduced to lesser-known treasures, such as the Fondaco dei Turchi, the “Turkish Inn”, a medieval Venetian palace that once hosted Ottoman travelers.
The book moves between epochs. Here are relics of the Bronze Age. There, the grandeur and the faded splendor of the Ottoman Empire. We catch glimpses of whirling dervishes in a forgotten corner of Athens and the ghostly echo of a Turkish gunboat sunk by the Italian navy in the Red Sea. There are tiles and tapestries, jewels and marble. The overarching theme is abundance: A history rich in diversity, scattered across the world, not only beyond Türkiye, but far beyond the old imperial frontiers of the Ottomans.
The prose sparkles; the photographs dazzle. Whether you have traveled with Serhan or dream of doing so, you will be astonished by the brilliance of his storytelling and the depth of his vision. Read this book and let it guide you! Let it delight you!”
Dr. Barry Strauss
Stanford University