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Nonfiction Not Constantinople ISTANBUL: A Tale of Three Cities By Bettany Hughes 800 pp. Da Capo Reviewed by: David E. Hoekenga, M. D. Riding across modern Istanbul’s crowded streets in a bus, I was struck by the drifts of purple hyacinths in the medians, tall pink tulips and yellow daffodils along the curbs. “Where did these colorful bulb flowers originate?” Our guide asked in flawless English. “Holland” or the “Netherlands,” several guests piped up brightly. “No,” Ruslan answered with pride after a pause. “They all came from the mountains of Turkey.” As we drove around the modern city of Istanbul, we saw part of the three cities—Byzantium, Constantinople (you know the song as well as I do-it’s Istanbul not Constantinople), and of course Istanbul—from the Hagia Sophia to the Blue Mosque to the Topkapi Palace to the Ortakoy Mosque. You travel by motor to understand the layout of much of this town of sixteen million people along the Bosporus, a narrow north south channel of water connec...