I was thinking about past trips today, and I went rummaging through the originals
from the trip to Turkey a few years ago. And I turned up this one (well, the original file,
rather underexposed, from which this comes) which I hadn't originally tagged as worthwhile.

I believe this dates back to Roman times. It's a sort of water storage tank under an open
space (a garden, I think) in the old part of the city. There is water in the bottom, hence
the reflections. This was one of the things I knew I had to see when I went to Istanbul.

Update 2007.02.11: I checked my guidebook ... This is the largest surviving Byzantine
cistern in Istanbul. It was built in 532AD by the Emporer Justinian. It is 140m long
and 70m wide, with a capacity of 80,000 cubic metres. 336 columns support its roof.
Water came via pumps and 20km of aquaducts from a reservoir near the Black Sea.

P9125892 b.jpg [Posted 2007.02.10 to the Image by chance gallery.]