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| The Basilica Cistern was a little spooky... thankful for the lights! |
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| This is Istanbul's largest cistern.... almost 105,000 square feet in area. |
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| There are 336 marble columns just like these holding the ceiling up! |
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| Danni liked the acoustics. I'm not sure the other guests felt the same way! |
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| Mommy had fun withe her flash settings... :) |
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| Two of the columns' bases are Medusa heads. These were moved from another Roman building in ancient times and used to build the Cistern. |
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| I bought a hat from a salesman in line!! |
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| There were lots of people underground... if the cistern can hold 100,000 gallons of water, it can hold a few tourists! |
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| Looking for fishies! |
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| The second Medusa head.... |
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| Better lighting on the upside down Medusa head. It is a mystery why it was placed upside down. |
Our last leg of our trip took us back to Istanbul for a few days. We did some historical touristy stuff which Danni and I thought was pretty boring for the most part. The first boring place that we visited was the Basilica Cistern. This is an underground water tank that was built in the 6th century. It is almost empty now (there are a few inches of water... but it is obviously not full!). It was cool to explore underground, although it was a little spooky and I was concerned that there were parts of the ceiling that were leaking and dripping water. I am glad that the ceiling held up for our tour!
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