... ON OUR SECOND DAY we drive for miles until we come to the place of Hasan's birth. Bebek is a part of the city that meets the sea, and like all such places, it has a bit of a resort feeling. It is a Sunday, and the whole town seems to have come on down to take its pleasure in the sun. We wander a stone street of old-European shops, turn onto a vast promenade, stroll slowly among the Sunday fishermen, the youths, the endless stray cats and dogs that live beside the water.

Cat owners, we worry about these homeless creatures. But they seem to do all right, dining on fishermen's cleanings, restaurant scraps, and the long cords of bread sold by vendors. And in the coming days, we will see worse. For now, we feel that we have come to the most peaceful spot on earth.
        Hasan wants to take us to the MacDonald's at the edge of the sea. Fortunately, it's packed, so instead we end up dining on the water, in the floating restaurant where Hasan's mother felt the first pangs of childbirth.