Sultanahmet, Istanbul- Basilica Cistern. I read about it in Dan Brown’s Inferno. Yerebatan Sarayi, meaning sunken palace. “Follow deep into the sunken palace…”
“As far as Langdon could see, the floor of this underground world was a glassy sheet of water- dark, still, smooth- like black ice on a frozen New England pond. The lagoon that reflects no stars.”
“Rising out of the water, meticulously arranged in seemingly endless rows, were hundreds of thick Doric columns…lit from below by a series of individual red spotlights, creating a surreal forest of illuminated trunks…”
“for here, in the darkness, the chronic monster waits…”
Bertrand Zobrist’s ground zero. The place where the mad scientist left a solublon bag that will release a virus. But where is it?
“Follow Medusa’s gaze across the lagoon.”
How will the virus spread? What happens next? It’s in here. 😉
It was exciting visiting Basilica Cistern with Robert Langdon’s adventure in the back of my mind. This Byzantine structure built in the 6th century amazes me. It was first a basilica then a cistern that provided a water filtration system for the Great Palace of Constantinople, the Topkapi Palace after the Ottoman conquest in 1453. How Dan Brown used it as a setting for Inferno shows what a talented writer he is. I loved seeing the Basilica Cistern through Robert Langdon’s eyes.
Here, There, Everywhere 
Reblogged this on She Reads Romance and commented:
Reading experiences are so much richer and meaningful when the reader finds herself in a story’s setting.
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