My Favorite Underground Site in Europe
We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
Collumns of the Basilica Cistern
My favorite underground site in Europe hands down is the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkey. It is one of the most hauntingly beautiful places that I have ever been to. The Basilica Cistern is located just half a block away from the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque and is completely underground. The Basilica Cistern was originally a cistern used to hold rainwater under the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. It is one of the largest cisterns underneath the city of Istanbul and I spent over an hour wandering around the different aisles and allowing myself to get lost in the sheer size of this underground cistern. There is still water in the cistern and the thousands of ancient columns reflect eerily in the shallow water.
I love the Basilica Cistern!
Columns Everywhere
Towards the back there are two Medusa heads supporting columns but interestingly enough the Medusa heads are upside down, it is said that they were placed upside down in order to cancel out Medusa’s power during the Christian Age. I would absolutely recommend a visit to the Basilica Cistern, it really is a remarkable place to be surrounded by thousands of ancient columns that have been holding up a cathedral like building underground since the sixth century CE.
The Head of Medusa
Never Ending Columns
Related Posts:
5 Reasons Why I Love Pompeii
The Coliseum at Pompeii
A Glimpse of Istanbul
A Man at Prayer at the Blue Mosque
Alex and Ashley
We are Ashley and Alex and we're foodies and boozies who eat, drink and live local. Our goal is to scour the globe looking for inside local tips, the best places to eat and the best places to drink with the locals. We are also authors of a culinary guidebook, "Eat Local in Barcelona: A Guide to Catalan Cuisine." This guidebook is all about learning how what and where to eat and drink local in Barcelona. Follow along with our adventures, so that you too can eat, drink and live local!
6 thoughts on “My Favorite Underground Site in Europe”
Leave a Reply
About Us
We are Ashley and Alex and we're foodies and boozies who eat, drink and live local. Our goal is to scour the globe looking for inside local tips, the best places to eat and the best places to drink with the locals.
We are also authors of a culinary guidebook, "Eat Local in Barcelona: A Guide to Catalan Cuisine." This guidebook is all about learning how, what and where to eat and drink local in Barcelona. Find out more in the link below!
Follow along with our adventures, so that you too can eat, drink and live local!
Follow us on Snapchat @PursuitAdventur or just snap a picture of our code!
Wow, this looks awesome! I’ll be adding it to my list of places to go in Europe, hopefully there are no rats down there though…. it looks like the kind of place they might hang out.
Didn’t see any rats though they did have this weird fake sea monster. Still not sure why…