With his new book, entitled "Inferno" Dan Brown, whose popular novels (Da Vinci Code) tend to always dominate the international bestsellers list, gives his readers the chance to experience the wonders of Istanbul.
The author's first words about Istanbul, describes the complexity of the city, "This was a world divided, a city of opposing forces - religious, secular; ancient, modern; Eastern, Western. Straddling the geographic boundary between Europe and Asia, this timeless city was quite literally the bridge from the Old World … to a world that was even older."
In Brown's newest novel, Da Vinci Code protagonist Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon arrives to the city center after landing at Istanbul's Atatürk Airport along Kennedy Avenue which he describes as being the perfect example of a meeting of the modern and the ancient in Istanbul.
The story unfolds in Hagia Sophia for which he writes, "Hagia Sophia, originally built in A.D. 360. A building that to this day remained the crown jewel of the region," also commenting that it remains to be one of the Eight Wonders of the World.
From Topkapı Palace Brown Langdon sees "the fairy tale spires of the Blue Mosque," which, Brown notes, had inspired the design for Cinderella's iconic castle at Disneyland.
The protagonist then heads to the Basilica Cistern and later passes over the Galata Bridge, where he mentions the New Mosque, built by an apprentice to Istanbul's legendary architect Mimar Sinan.
Brown also references the Spice Bazaar, and writes that it looked larger than most American malls.
Langdon's last stop in Istanbul is to the "ultramodern" Levent Plaza where the Swiss Consulate is located in Istanbul, "a city of opposing forces."
Langdon's story ends in Istanbul with the quote, "a field of red emblazoned with the ancient symbols of the crescent and star vestiges of the Ottoman Empire, still flying proudly in the modern world."
