We intended to visit the Hagia Sophia Museum this morning, but as we had slept in following the trip to Gallipoli yesterday, the queue was a mile long by the time we got there. We resisted the efforts of scalpers and the like and decided to postpone until tomorrow.

As an alternative we visited the Basilica Cistern which we had bypassed several times previously without much of a thought. However it turned out to be well worth a visit...a huge underground chamber built by the Romans as a water storage. It's absolutely massive, the roof held up by a forest of columns and there has been some clever lighting installed to show it off well. There's some water in the bottom which even has fish living in the near darkness...they appear to be Koi or Carp or the like.

After that we decided to walk to the Galata Tower which is a prominent landmark on the Istanbul Skyline. It's 665 years old but has been modernised with elevators and restaurants inside. It provided spectacular views of the city in all directions.

Our next idea was to visit the Dolmabahce Palace down by the waterside on the Bosphorus but we only made it as far as the outside cafe before realising it closed at 4pm and we wouldn't have time...so we enjoyed a late lunch and decided to try again on Friday morning if there's time.

Exhausted from all the walking, we caught the tram back to the hotel for 3TL each and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing.