Few places evoked such strong emotions in her. From the sight of the enchanting Basilica Cistern to the smells and colours of the spices in the Misir Çarşisi—musty Urfa pepper, tangy cumin, swirling with the memorizing spectacle of whirling dervishes the night before. Istanbul made her feel truly alive. All her senses awake and alert, the feeling must have awoken something powerful and dormant in her, for it was on the banks of that mighty Bosphorus, with a clear sense of being in between worlds, that she had come to write the letter that would change her life irreversibly.