Dining: Sarnic Restaurant

Sarnic Restaurant (The Cistern) is situated at the top of a sloping, narrow street behind St. Sophia where there are a series of guest houses. This magnificent building, borne on six massive stone blocks, has high brick domes and was originally built as a water cistern 1500 years ago. Whereas, recently (meaning 1960’s and 1970’s), it had become a car repair shop built on what appeared to be a pile of rubble. Turkey’s Touring and Automobile Association, which transformed the houses in the street into guest houses, also cleared the accumulated dirt and rubble of centuries from this cistern, restored it and translated it into to a ‘Roman tavern’. The excavation required to achieve today’s “ground level” went down seven metres. During the process of this work it was ascertained that the bases of the six, massive, stone support blocks were embedded a further three metres in the ground! During the hot days of summer, the cistern offers a cool atmosphere and, when the night comes, it is swathed in the mystic glow of candle light. The soft golden light from iron chandeliers paints the place with all the colours of history. It is a place which testifies to the grand and dramatic synthesis of Istanbul’s three thousand year history.  

Night Tour: 19:00pm — 0:00am