In April of 2005, my husband and I spent a wonderful week in Istanbul. We were enthralled with the mosques and bazaars and all the historic sights. We particularly enjoyed the very affable people we met there, and their easy sense of humor.



But as everyone who has been there knows, you can't walk more than a block or two without being pitched by a street vendor. Most often the attempted hustles aretoward a carpet shop, but everything imaginable is being peddled everywhere. ...