Pera, or the Serasker in Constantinople. According to my notion,
the former course is preferable. In this tower there is a room with
twelve windows placed in a circle, from which we see pictures such
as the most vivid imagination could hardly create.

Two quarters of the globe, on the shores of two seas united by the
Bosphorus, lie spread before us. The glorious hills with their
towns and villages, the number of palaces, gardens, kiosks, and
mosques, Chalcedon, the Prince's Islands, the Golden Horn, the
continual bustle on the sea, the immense fleet, besides the numerous
ships of other nations, the crowds of people in Pera, Galata, and
Topana--all unite to form a panorama of singular beauty. The
richest fancy would fail in the attempt to portray such a scene; the
most practised pen would be unequal to the task of adequately
describing it. But the gorgeous picture will be ever present to my
memory, though I lack the power of presenting it to the minds of
others.

Frequently, and each time with renewed pleasure, I ascended this
tower, and would sit there for hours, in admiration of the works of
the created and of the Creator. Exhausted and weary with gazing was
I each time I returned to my home. I think I may affirm that no
spot in the world can present such a view, or any thing that can be
compared with it. I found how right I had been in undertaking this
journey in preference to any other. Here another world lies
unfolded before my view. Every thing here is new--nature, art, men,
manners, customs, and mode of life. He who would see something
totally different from the every-day routine of European life in
European towns should come here.