Around the Blue Mosque - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 128

has ever been found. In times past, one could penetrate through one
of the openings into a vast crypt with towering vaults and massy
walls, obviously of several diferent periods; but the church has now
been sealed of and one can no longer enter its interior.
We now retrace our steps so as to return to the Stable Gate. As we
do so we might notice, just beyond the Incili Köşk, the huge vaults
which were probably once part of the substructure of the Palace
of Mangana. Beyond these substructures we pass a series of small
posterns which once gave entrance to the area which in Ottoman
times was the lower garden of the Saray. This whole area is filled with
subterranean vaults, crypts and complex passages which belonged
to the substructure of the various churches, monasteries and palaces
which covered this part of the First Hill. Most of these substructures
are now almost impossible to access, either for natural causes or
because the area is controlled by the military.
We now return to the Stable Gate and pass through the double
portal in the sea-walls to re-enter the city. After passing through the
gate we immediately turn left on Ahır Kapı Sokağı and then take
the first right, Keresteci Hakkı Sokağı, which we follow around a
left bend until it comes to Ak Bıyık Meydanı, the Square of the
White Moustache. This is the centre of one of the most picturesque
neighbourhoods in old Stamboul, and its winding lanes have some
of the most marvellous names in town: the Street of the Bushy
Beard, the Street of the Sweating Whiskers, the Street of the Shame-
Faced, the Street of Ibrahim of Black Hell, and the Avenue of the
White Moustache, from which the square and the surrounding
neighbourhood are named.
Before leaving the Square of the White Moustache, do not fail
to notice the two fountains there, especially the one on the left
side of the square, the Ak Bıyık Meydan Çeşmesi. There are more
than 400 of these çeşmes in Stamboul alone, ranging in size from
the monumental street fountains such as that of Sultan Ahmet III,
to simple wall-fountains. For centuries these çeşmes were the only
sources of water for the ordinary people of Istanbul, and up until
recent years there are many sections of the city which still depend
mainly upon them. The Ak Bıyık Meydan Çeşmesi is an attractive