Istanbul's neighborhoods are as dazzling as the city itself. They bear the scars of history and speak of ambition and glory, destruction and loss. They are defined by their distance from the water and their proximity to power and money. Until the 19th century, the sultan had the privilege of building in stone, and the population built in wood. 

Today, the rich still live on the heights of the hills, the poorer on steep slopes, in valley furrows, or in the backcountry of the former Gececondus ("built overnight"). Between the extremes, only the scenery by the water has a balancing and calming effect.