Cruise across the Mediterranean - Athens to Malaga, via Valletta

[Quickstatus]

Humid?

I heard the monetary inflation of last year is improving?

 

[tgh]

Really enjoying the tr , sometimes wonder what these structures would cost in 2026 dollars...

 

[craven morehead]

As usual, playing catch up

 

[RooFlyer]

Humid?

I heard the monetary inflation of last year is improving?

Not humid; just wet.

Just after the mosque it was a 5 min stroll to the last thing I wanted to visit - the Zeyrek cistern, the damaged, outer part I showed previously. mall admission fee. A nice cistern - not as impressibe as the Basilica Cistern in the tourist area, but demonstrating the feature type very well. Vaulted roof, with supporting columns. Byzantine.





The ceiling



I acquired my own guide who took me upstairs for the best view






That afternoon, I was due for another hammam, at the very traditional one I always go to when in Istanbul. Its on the edge of the tourist area, so abt 40 mins walk from the hotel. I had some time to kill so walked on



Passed this building, which was now a boys high school. Odd thst iyt was draped in bomb-proof netting



Until I walked on, and next door was the Iranian consulate (with tourist 'Visit Iran' signs along the front )



Column of Constantine. Erected in 330 by Constantine the Great to mark the dedication of his new capital, this porphyry column once stood in the centre of the Forum of Constantine, topped by a statue of the emperor. It was originally about 35 metres tall, but earthquakes and fires toppled the top, and the Ottomans reinforced it with iron hoops, giving it the names Çemberlitaş ("Hooped Stone") .



Behind it the Nuruosmaniye Mosque, only dating from the 1700s





The, close to the Basilica Cistern and the Hagia Sophia, therefore ignored by nearly every passer-by, is the Stone of Milion. Wiki:

The Milion was a marker from which all distances across the Roman Empire were measured. Erected by Septimius Severus in the 3rd century AD in the city of Byzantium, it became the zero-mile marker for the empire upon the re-founding of the city as Constantinople in 330 AD. Thereafter, it would serve as the starting-place for the measurement of distances for all the roads leading to the cities of the Eastern Roman Empire. It thus served the same function as the Golden Milestone (Milliarium Aureum) in Rome's forum, erected by Augustus. The domed building of the Milion rested on four large arches and, over the centuries, it was expanded and decorated with several statues and paintings. Though it had survived the sack of Constantinople in 1204 and the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, it disappeared by the start of the 16th century in the Ottoman era. During excavations in the 1960s, some partial fragments of the Milion were discovered under houses in the area.

 

[RooFlyer]

And so onto one of the highlights of my stay in Istanbul - a hammam treatment at the Cağaloğlu Hammam.

Home | Cağaloğlu Hamamı

1741 yılında inşa edilen Cağaloğlu Hamamı, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu döneminde uzun bir süre sonra yapılan en son hamamdır.

cagalogluhamami.com.tr

Following images from their web site. Public area. private changing rooms along the edge. You leave your stuff there and come out wearing a coarse-woven long towel, peshtemal.



Sauna-like alcove prep (this isn't me)



Central area for treatment - you lie on the edge; there may be 4 or 5 of you around the edge if its busy.



There's a lot of this



Scrub not shown. Preparing the foam. Its a coarse-woven pillow-slip like thing that they fill with air then squeeze, producing the foam.



Foam (this isn't me either)



Treats afterwards



Their whos who of visitors

 

[RooFlyer]

After the hammam, totally refreshed and relaxed, I had a late lunch at their fairly new adjoining restaurant Lokanta 1741.



1,000 Turkish lira is about A$30, so the tasting menu was about $216



I stuck with the regular menu with no wine



Amuse bouche, lentil soup



meagre ceviche - wonderful!



Extra dish - stuffed vine leaves in tomatoe



Main of grilled lamb. Very, very nice - and filling!



With that, I walked the 40 minutes back to the hotel.

 

[RooFlyer]

Anyone who has been to Istanbul will know the experience of the quadro-octo- phonic calls to prayer around the Hagia Sophia and the waterfront. At the hotel it was very impressive too. Suleymaniye Mosque promenent in these.

From the hotel terrace

From my room terrace

And a panorama from the top floor terrace of the Movenpick