"City of Dreams: Writers on Istanbul
From Ernest Hemingway to Paul Theroux, Istanbul has long inspired writers.
At 20 cents each [the Lady’s Thigh and Lady’s Navel pastries] were a good deal cheaper and probably a lot safer than their namesakes arrayed after midnight in the alleys off Istiklal Caddesi. To the braying of saxophones in the dimly lit taverns, these alley cats pluck at your sleeve as you pick your way along the steep cobbled footpath. But I was resolute. I never got closer to a lady’s thigh in Istanbul than the pastry with the euphemistic name. Besides, I had been warned that most of the alley cats were transvestites who, during the day, worked as crew members on the Bosphorus ferries."
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