Day 11 21 April 2026 Istanbul

 

Today was such a great day. We absolutely had our terry tourist hats on as we walked around the old city.

A pleasant surprise to us is firstly out our window is the Topkapi Palace but it is closed today.

So grab a cup of tea, i have a lot to talk about and then theres the photos!

After a very Turkish breakfast of vegetables, cheeses and cold meats we head up the hill behind our hotel to Aya Sophya. Sadly she is absolutely covered  in scaffolding and we are also lead to believe that a lot of what we would view from the galleries is also covered. Here we made a very big decision to leave her for next time and save ourselves €25 a piece.

We wandered around Sultanahmet park, had a coffee and wondered if we pop into the Blue mosque now, but we also realised how close we were to a couple of other highlights we want to see.

The Basilica Cistern. The largest surviving Byzantine cistern in Istanbul.

This water storage was commissioned by Emperor Justinian in 532…..

Just let that sink in for a minute.

Then rediscovered in 1545, when a chap ( a scholar) was told by local residents that they were obtaining water by lowering buckets into a dark space below their basement floors.

It became a dumping ground before being rediscovered again and cleaned and renovated and open to the public in 1987.

It is just beautiful with the addition of walkways and lighting, i was just speechless..

I have also read in someone else’s blog about another of these cisterns close by.

Not so well known and a bit smaller is the Binbirdirek cistern.

They struggled to keep the water clean here, so it was drained and then alcoves of the cistern were used as workshops for craft, predominately silk.

Back up to ground level and continuing to wander down through what was the Hippodrome, back in the day. A place for horse and chariot racing, events etc and could seat over 100,000 people.

Just beside is the magnificent blue mosque and its time to grab a scarf and head on in.

We’re not inside for too long as its nearly prayer time but time enough to see the magnificence of its interior.

Shuffled out to the courtyard which is beautifully picturesque but not before Stuart picks up a couple of copies of the Qur’ān ( in english)

Lots of photos but disappointed by the clash of the influencer using this holy place as a photo shoot.

Grabbed a cob of corn for lunch and enjoyed in the shadow of three historical objects.

The Serpent column dating back to the 5th century bc from when the Persian empire fell and also two other objects the Theodosius and the walled obelisk. If you have a minute, please do a search in this. The history is crazy.

We have very loosely been following a walking tour of Sultanahmet in my wee lonely planet guide.

This takes us by a couple of other smaller mosques.

We come around the southern end of the Hippodrome which was built up when the track was extended. Evident in our photos.

Serendipitously, we pass a rug shop with a sign say cistern by appointment.

I’m sensing a theme here .

This one was discovered when rug man was excavating to build his house/ shop in 2005.

Afternoon spent going from Bazaar to Bazaar. The Arasta, The Grand and The Spice market eventually arriving down in the waterfront.

Walked across the Galata Bridge with the fisherman up top and the seafood restaurants down below.  

Very weary after a big day.

Seemed to walk home through what seemed a very busy CBD alongside the trams.

We have dinner a little restaurant off the main drag and away from most of the tourists, except us.