Bridge over the Bosphorus The only city in the world that spans two continents—Asia and Europe—Istanbul is where the twain do meet. And its past lives are never absent from a present cover story Once a church, then a mosque, now a museum, Hagia Sophia has remained an architectural wonder throughout its history. 42 30 For centuries, the Topkapi Palace harem was a mystery to the outside world, fuelling orientalist fantasies of the erotic, decadent East. For the concubines, eunuchs and slaves who populated it, though, the seraglio was a battleground of intrigues and power struggle