Day 16 – Sunday 24 May

Laundry day and Vern who is chief laundry man found a well reviewed self service laundromat down by the metro. As it was mainly a down hill we decided to walk. The plan was to fill our day packs full of laundry and bus it back after buying a metro card and topping it up. Vern had researched how the metro and card system worked and felt it was our best option for transport here.

The laundromat had free tea, coffee, charging stations and yummy little cream filled coffee lollies. Once selected the attendant would transfer the washing to the dryer and you could wait the 1hr total or go off and come back.

We decided to wait and just caught up on some device work whilst we watched out the window at the street life and sipped our Turkish tea. The laundromat is very modern and before we knew it we were folding our warm clean washing and heading towards the metro station to a buy a card. You can both use the one card, by tapping twice on the readers which saves you money as they cost 165 tyl each. Transport is very cheap per ride, and you can top us as you need. We worked out where to get a bus back home and got dropped off basically across the road from the hotel.

Feeling very pleased with ourselves, we had another cuppa after we packed away the washing and decided to go to the Blue Mosque and perhaps the Cistern Basilica if we had the time. We also thought we could walk there as Apple Maps said it was a mere 2.6 km. The walk seemed longer especially in the heat, but we got to see quite a bit along the way. It was mostly downhill so that was a bonus.

We walked past the Grand Bazaar and it was surprising how big it is. Hopefully we will go later in the week as we establish our itinerary, we will also take into consideration that it is a tourist trap big time, and not good for shopping at grossly inflated prices.

It is a bit confronting how big Istanbul is – 16 million is an awfully big number for us Kiwi’s and the density of the population makes it more intense.

The Blue Mosque was a little underwhelming for all the hype for me. Whist I appreciated the grandeur of being inside the vast Mosque dome, it just wasn’t as colourful and blue ethereal feeling as I had anticipated. We are both now wondering whether we want to spend 35 euro each (75 nzd) to see Hagia Sophia later in the week.

This is an aspect we have started to consider since our last trip. In view of do we really want to see or experience something just because that is what everyone else is recommending and doing, or does the attraction really interest us, and would we really feel we were missing something if we did not go?

We are fortunate to have seen a lot of wonderful major sites in Europe and have become more discerning now. We are not making a judgement on whether the items are worth seeing per see, just our personal perspective for us. In that regard the Blue Mosque would receive the 2.5 out of 3 star – with the half point being awarded to it for having free entry. The price of entry to places in Turkey is ridiculously high in our opinion and quite prohibitive for the average traveller with such a poor exchange rate.

After the mosque which has free toilets by the way, we found a place for dinner that also had a bit of a view. Dinner was pleasant but higher priced than the one we went to last night, as of course it was in old town. We had Russian dumplings with butter and garlic yoghurt sauce and a Turkish moussaka. Both were pleasant but no better than good home cooking.

The Cistern basilica was not far down the road, and we made our way carefully there with a long cut (a short cut which ended up being longer). The entry is 35euro each (70nzd) which stings, but you put it out of your mind if you are wanting to do it.

Was it worth it in our view? In respect that we enjoyed it and glad we went it was a yes. However, was it really worth $70nzd each? That is a really hard one, I do not think so, but as we wanted to see it, and enjoyed it – it is the cost it is. Apparently going at night is even better than the day, as they add extra lighting.

It was impressive in size, design, and again the history when you think about it. The cistern is a massive cathedral style water reservoir built in 532 AD by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. It was built to store up to 80,000 cubic meters of fresh water for the Great Palace of Constantinople and its surrounds. The Basilica Cistern is roughly 140 meters long and 70 meters wide, covering 9,800 square meters. It stands 9 meters tall from the floor to the vaulted brick ceiling.

It features 336 marble columns arranged in 12 neat rows, some of them being repurposed from ruined Roman temples, therefore feature different designs. In the far back corner, two columns sit on top of giant stone bases with the face of Medusa. One head is upside down, and the other sideways. Historians believe they were placed this way to support structural supports for the right height and to ward off evil spirits.

The water came via Belgrade and was gravity fed including aqueducts. The further east mountain springs tapped by this system were located about 130 km west of Istanbul, deep in the Thrace region near the border with modern Bulgaria. In order to service the growing city, the Romans built up to 500 km of connected channels to service the city, and it is considered the longest aqueduct of the ancient world.

It reminded us slightly of another cistern we saw in Matera, however it was no where near as grand. Again, form and function and highly recommended if you like that sort of thing. A word of caution, it is not mobility friendly, as there are numerous steep steps down and up. Once at the bottom, you walk on very good flat boardwalks above the water, where apparently there are still some fish – although we did not see any.

We did see some nice art installations adding to the other time and worldly atmosphere, as we walked in the golden glow admiring reflections and feeling and hearing the drips of water. It would be a great place to visit on a hot day!

When we emerged from our quiet underworld it was well and truely dark and still noisey and chaotic with tourists everywhere and vendors trying to get you into their venues.

We put one tired and sore foot in front of the other and found a tram that we hoped would get us near home. We had the right one thankfully and the closest stop left us with a decision to either walk to a bus stop, or walk about 1.5 km up a gentle hill home.

We chose the latter, as by the time we found the bus stop and bus, we would likely be home. 11km on my phone fitness tracker today and we are feeling it.