“If one had but a single glance to give the world, one should gaze on Istanbul.” So said Alponse de Lamartine, the French poet who proclaimed his love for Istanbul.

It’s no wonder artist Jeff Day and his wife, Nadean Curtiss, have found themselves called back to this city year after year. Just as Romeo was repeatedly pulled back to Juliet’s balcony, the Freeland couple is drawn, like a lover, to this romantic place now called Istanbul.

Curtiss — who recently started “NC Tours,” a travel agency for women interested in trips to Istanbul — calls the city “an old jewelry box that is full of treasures to be discovered.”

Curtiss is an unstoppable aficionado of Istanbul, and has stayed there for long periods of time since 1999. She worked there as an English teacher and had an apartment in the heart of the city.

“I went for a year and ended up staying six,” Curtiss said.

Day joined her in 2000 and has been going back and forth since. The trips have inspired the artwork he’s created for several shows, including his most recent one, “Drawn Back to Istanbul.”

The show opens Oct. 12 at the Bayview Cash Store.

The inner landscape

Istanbul, an ancient city once known as Byzantium and as Constantinople, has emerged over the centuries as a thoroughly modern place. A “Newsweek” article in 2005 called Istanbul the “Turkish delight” and even went so far as naming it “one of the coolest cities in the world.”

Located on the Bosphorus strait, it encompasses the natural harbor known as the Golden Horn in the northwest of the country. Istanbul extends both on the European and Asian sides of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world which sits on two continents.

It is along the Bosphorus that Curtiss and Day like to walk and just hang out, as do many of the more than 12 million inhabitants of the city. The crowds make the waterfront a hub of communal activity.

“You see everyone out there,” said Day. “Whole families, children, grandparents, dogs. Everyone gathers and is together cooking, eating, playing. It’s great!”

“Istanbul is now a part of my inner landscape that’s not going to go away,” said Curtiss. “It’s magical and keeps calling me back.”

The people and the place

Part of that magic comes from the antiquity of Istanbul, with its thick atmosphere of bazaars, Byzantine churches (now mainly Muslim mosques) and Ottoman mansions.

But the magic extends to the people as well, who, as Day and Curtiss explained, are curious about everything. They will invite you into their homes, even as a complete stranger, to feed you a meal and ask you all about your life as if you were a long, lost friend.

“They have a word for that, hoÞ geldiniz, which means welcome,” Curtiss said, extending her arms as if to gather someone into her arms.

“Everyone just drops in. Family, friends, everyone,” she said.

Curtiss explained the custom of throwing a glass of water behind someone as they leave the home or the shop. It’s a gesture of endearment which, roughly translated, means “May you come back as easily as the water flows.”

Even when doing business, the Turkish people are customarily friendly and hospitable. They will invite you to sit for tea, find out what you might be looking for in the market and what a good price would be for you personally.

And if you happen to be the first customer of the day — the one who always brings good luck to the merchants — they may even give you what you want for free. This was once the case for Curtiss and she smiles at the memory of it.

An artistic influence

When talking about how Istanbul inspires his work, Day spoke about the mystery the city holds, the dark, immutable side, the antiquity.

That, combined with the way people dress, have made a big impression on him as an artist.

“Their clothes remind me of the 1940s. I find the way people dress there interesting because of the simple forms, like bulky overcoats, umbrellas, canes,” he said.

Many of the residents’ homes are small, which means people are outside much of the time.

“They are always out walking so it’s easy to capture them,” Day said.

Day’s latest show will be “the last hurrah” of his work about Istanbul. However, with Curtiss starting NC Tours and luring some new travelers toward the enchantment of Istanbul, one wonders if Day will ever really be finished with the bewitching inspiration of this ancient city.

“Drawn Back to Instanbul” shows 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Oct. 12-Oct. 15 at the Bayview Cash Store in Bayview.

Call 360-730-1041 for more information. Looking for an experienced and passionate guide to Istanbul? NC Tours Website is www.nctours.com.

Patricia Duff can be reached at 221-5300 or pduff@southwhidbeyrecord.com