On the brink of Europe, facing Asia across the shimmering Bosporus, the Hill of Pera is crowned by one of the swankest old hotels in the world. It is Istanbul's famed Hotel Pera Palace, chuck-full of faded tapestries and the queerest collection of Victorian rocking chairs, settees and oversize bathroom fixtures this side of Bombay. Last week a rattletybang little streetcar jammed with Turks was just careening around a curve in front of the Pera Palace when a great belch of flame and smoke pushed out the whole first floor of the hotel with a crunching, grunting roar. Against...
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