ORHAN PAMUK’S ISTANBUL -- 13

NEW YORK TIMES WORDS/STEVE WRIGHT IMAGES

We stopped for lunch in the shadow of the Galata Bridge, a double-decker concrete-and-steel span, opened in 1994, with walkways, three lanes of traffic in each direction and tram tracks.

Plastic tables and chairs stood haphazardly on a muddy patch near the water, flanked by portable grills selling fish fillets on baguettes, garnished with paprika, chile powder and chopped vegetables. 

A stray dog, his ear tagged as proof of his government-issued rabies shot, lay in the dirt. 

“He’s a local monument,” said Mr. Pamuk, who was bitten by a street dog during an evening walk 13 years ago and had to undergo a painful series of rabies shots.

-Joshua Hammer