Five years at Istanbul University meant the Old City was my daily neighborhood, not a destination. I walked through Beyazıt every morning, ate in the hans, spent evenings in the backstreets most tourists never find. I know which hans are still active workshops, the tea spots inside the Grand Bazaar where no tourist ever sits, and the hidden streets, rooftops and passages in historical peninsula that appear in no guidebook or standard tour route. This is four years of daily presence, not research