Category: Middle East

August, 2000 This is the famous Treasury in Petra, Jordan. It is actually a tomb carved into rock. Notice the immense size. Laurence, on the right, hauled my butt all over Egypt and Jordan. This picture is here by popular demand (My mother asked me to put in, and we have to do what mom…

Across the street from Hagia Sofia, and underground, is the Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Saray) or Sunken Palace Cistern because of its size (70 x 140 meters, or 2.4 acres), its capacity (over 21 million US gallons) and its 336 marble columns. Remember the scene in the old James Bond movie From Russia With Love when Bond is rowing in a small boat through a forest of marble columns? That scene was filmed in Yerebatan.