A very interesting look at the cisterns, I like your twist on a frequently shared experience. I kick myself because my partner and I were in Istanbul in 2020 and arrived just before they closed the cisterns down for many months of maintenance. We could have toured it free of crowds and line-ups, but we didn't. Then when we wanted to go, it was closed already. Such a shame. The next time we went to Istanbul was in 2022 and the lineup for the major attractions wound through many city blocks.