Tag: Byzantion

  • Maiden’s Tower

    Maiden’s Tower

    Maiden’s Tower is built on a small rock around 200 meters from the shores of Uskudar (Scutari or ancient Chrysopolis) on the Bosphorus. The first use of the tiny island goes back to 300-400 BC when Byzantion was an ancient Greek colony, used as a customs station for ships passing through the Bosphorus strait. The…

  • Basilica Cistern

    Basilica Cistern

    Located on the historic Sultanahmet peninsula, close to Hagia Sophia and Sultan Ahmed Mosque (“the Blue Mosque”), the Basilica Cistern is an impressive underground structure built at the time of the Byzantian Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. Underground cisterns were commonly built in the middle ages to collect and store rainwater. There were possibly…