One of our favorite sites that we saw in Istanbul was the Basilica Cistern. According to our guidebook, it's filled with 336 marble columns that were taken from various Greek ruins. It was built in the time of Emperor Constantine and rebuilt somewhere around 530AD. You can see the cistern in the 1963 James Bond film From Russia With Love. From what I've read, James is rowing with one of his lovely ladies in the cistern. (the water height was much higher at that time)
It's incredibly dark inside, but Ryan still managed to capture some great photos.
Towards the end of the cistern there are a couple columns that have a medusa head on the bottom. She's resting sideways, though. I'd be sideways, too, if I had to support that column for that many years.
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