Our ship
docked in Istanbul overnight, giving us two days to explore the city. The first
evening we traveled to an underground cistern. In ancient times, aqueducts
supplied the city with water, however enemies destroyed them or poisoned the
water during war. Cisterns were built to store safe drinking water during times
of battle. The cistern we visited is supported by 336 columns, all of which
were imported from Roman structures. At the back of the cistern, two Medusa
heads (one facing sideways and one upside down) serve as the bases of two
columns. Certain scenes from the James Bond movie, “From Russia with Love,”
were filmed there!
Down the street from the cistern lies the spice
market. There, locals and tourists alike shop for fresh spices, teas, and Turkish
Delight candy. As Ramadan begins
tomorrow, the market was quite crowded with locals who were purchasing spices
for feasts. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset but enjoy feasts
at night.
Then we spent an hour traveling down the Bosphorus
Strait, the waterway between the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. We
crossed under a large suspension bridge that connects Europe (on the left in
the picture) to Asia (on the right).
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