Belgrad Forest Istanbul

We were loath to leave South Africa behind for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that we had to transition from summer to winter in the span of just eighteen hours. We didn't know it at the time, but winter was unfortunately going to be an especially long one in Istanbul.

We did our best not to let it get to us, …

... day.  Later I visited the Basilica Cistern which was constructed in the 6th Century to hold the town water which came from the Belgrad Forest 19km away.  It has 336  9m high marble columns arranged in 12 rows and measures 70 m by 140m. A ...