Yerebatan Sarayi (Underground Cistern) Istanbul

Lunch is at a Chinese restaurant called Great Hong Kong. There is an old and 'abandoned' building right next to it with many black cats. We saw a few 'abandoned' buildings in Istanbul and I'm not sure why they look like that.

The Underground Cistern is very beautiful. Imagining that it used to be for storing water only! The …

Our time in Istanbul has come to and end. We've spent 3 days in this amazing city. We've walked for miles, there is so much to do here, the people are so friendly and the food, oh my god the food - is AMAZING!!

We arrived back pretty tired from our Gallipoli tour in Thursday night, so we made a slow start Friday morning checking into our …

We are exhausted and in dire need of sustenance. Fortunately for us one of the icons of Turkish cuisine, Sultanahmet Köftecisi, which literally means Sultanahmet Meatballs, is right on our route. This renowned restaurant opened in 1920 and has been imitated all over Turkey. In spite of the fact that it's smack in the very middle of the tourist …

We started the day with standard breakfast with the mesmerizing view of the Blue Mosque from the terrace.
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Again we slept very soundly, but at least we were up in good time to have a good breakfast while once again admiring that fabulous view. The selection on offer was Turkish and included olives and cold meats and various pastries as well as gorgeous fresh fruit which we particularly enjoyed. The melon, cherries and apricots were fantastic!

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... when they arrived in the 1400's. So there are Christian paintings in there of Christ and stuff. Next stop was the Yerebatan Sarayi (Sunken Palace) otherwise known as the underground cistern. It was amazing. It had 2 heads of Medusa which ...

... measured. In this case, one road did lead to Rome. Just like James Bond, we're going underground. Down to the Yerebatan Sarayi, or in English, Basilika Cistern, and called the Sunken Palace by Istanbuls. This Cistern is the largest of several hundred ...

... to have a hope in hell of getting to the UK by the end of January. Our first stop was the Cistern Basilica (Yerebatan Sarayi) it is basically a big underground water tank. measuring approximately 138 x 64, the roof is supported by 336 marble columns. At ...

... at 5am and we had a mosque right next to our hostel. No need for an alarm in Istanbul!!! Another interesting place we visited was the Yerebatan Sarayi (Basilica Cistern). It is a restored underground water reservoir built by slaves in 530AD. The ...

... and debauched.  Stories abound about these sultans strange, brutal and bloody actions after their time in the Cage. Yerebatan Sarayi (Basilica Cistern) - vast (70x140 meters), column filled (336) cistern held water for summer and times of ...

... place probably hasn't changed in the several hundred years since it was constructed. The next port of call was the Yerebatan Sarayi, which translates as underground palace. This is an ancient Roman water cistern which is under the streets of Istanbul. ...

... them. As a result, I visited three popular plces, Topkapi Palace, Sultan Ahmet Camii, and Aya Sofya, but missed Yerebatan Sarayi, which Mr.Takeuchi, a Turkish lerner from Japan, mentioned later. All the museum and mosques were elegant with Islamic ...

... back to to the center of town to see the Underground Cistern and the Arasta Bazaar. The Underground Bascilica Cistern (or Yerebatan Sarayi in Turkish, meaning 'Sunken Palace') is a great underground chamber used in times of siege and is the largest ...

... use the balconies on the second level. Just before lunch, we had our third stop at the Basilica Cistern of Byzantine construction, Yerebatan Sarayi or the Underground Palace.  It is a vast reservoir under the streets of Istanbul with 336 Doric and ...