2011 - Greg's Vienna to Istanbul Cycle Tour: Day 42: Fri 8 Jul

Weather: sunny 37deg

Woke this morning feeling 100%; marvelous what a 20 hr sleep will do in the way of recuperation.

One day in Istanbul is enough to convince me that I want to see more of this fascinating city. It is huge, no surprise really with a population of 15 million people it's got to be big. We have of course seen a tiny piece of it, and as we are staying on the European side near the Blue Mosque that is where we are wandering. There are more mosques here than you can poke a Koran at. There's got to be a dozen within a stones throw of our motel. We took lunch at a street cafe next to one of the Mosques and the worshipers were spilling out onto the street about 2m from where we were sitting. We are glad there wasn't any post-Friday prayers trouble today. If only we could pack our churches to overflowing each Sunday like that. The Spice Market was 'spicy' and very fragrant.

The prize for the day's touring goes to The Basilica Cistern. It's a 140m x 70m x 9m high underground water supply carved out of solid rock and supported by 100s of huge marble columns. It can hold 100,000 tonnes of water. It was built in the 1st century by the Romans. I suspect we would struggle to build it today, even with all the technology we have.