Saturday, 29 June 2013

Cisterns

Deep beneath Sultanhamet, there is a curious site. Well below ground, the byzintine cisterns built by Emperor Justinia still exist. They had actually been forgotten about for ages and re-discovered. Locals who had houses would talk of using buckets on ropes to pull up fresh water from a hole in their basement, and sometimes even fish! They were re-discovered and opened as a tourist attraction, fish and all.

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It was lovely, damp and dark down there. A good escape from the heat of midday.

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There are two pillars with huge carved medusa visages.

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They are mysterious in origin, which basically makes it an ideal tourist trap when you claim things like that. "We have no idea how these got here" and "it's a mystery who put these here and why". Sold!

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