Turkey Traveller

The Basilica Cistern (known in Turkish as Yerebatan Sarnıcı or sunken cistern) is located near the Hagia Sophia in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. It is a popular tourist destination but is easy to miss due to its underground location. However we found it fairly easily due to the tout who kindly showed us the entrance, albeit after he took us to his leather warehouse and showed us some jackets whilst we imbibed in some free apple tea. Once there we paid 10 YTL entrance fee and then descended the steps into the darkness. The Basilica Cistern is sometimes referred to as The Sunken Palace and it’s easy to see why. As you walk down the stairs you will see a large reservoir stretching further than you can see in the darkness, between the water and the ceiling there is a forest of 336 30ft high marble columns stretching up to a brick made domed ceiling, the columns are arranged in 12 rows each 28 columns long. The air is cool and damp (perfect respite from the hot sun outside) and eac

The Yazılıkaya Platform also known as Midas city is in the county of Eskişehir in the Yazılıkaya (written rock) village, maps of the area marked with all the areas of cultural and historical interest in Eskişehir are available at the Eskişehir tourist information centre. The Yazılıkaya platform was first occupied by man in the early Bronze Age, there are considerable archaeological remains from the Hittite period and the whole platform is like a preserved Phrygian settlement. The Phrygians occupied the area after the decline of the Hittite empire and the Yazılıkaya Platform is thought to be the 7th century BC religious centre of the Phrygian culture. On the site there are approximately 33 ruins from the Phrygian period including the Midas monument (a monument built to the goddess Cybele at the behest of King Midas), Phrygian rock tombs, altars, ancient roads, fountains, gigantic underground cisterns, rock thrones, Phrygian monuments, inscriptions and a massive stone fortress. The Mi