There are many stories about banshees in Greek mythology, such as the Sphinx with a Sphinx, the Sirens who sing in the sea to lure sailors, and Nymphs who dance in the mountains, but the most well-known is the gorgon Medusa.

There are many versions of the story about Medusa, some say that she was originally beautiful, the goddess of Athena temple, was seduced by Poseidon, defiled the purity of the temple, so angry Athena turned Medusa ugly, full of hair into a snake. Some versions say that Medusa is one of the three Gorgon sisters, the blood of God, the original image is full of snake hair, the body has golden wings, the body is covered with armor, and the appearance is extremely ferocious.
Medusa's fate is very sad, the famous hero Perseus under Athena's guidance, designed to kill Medusa, cut off her head.

Interestingly, despite such ugly appearance, Medusa is loved and worshipped by countless people, especially in Turkey, which is located in ancient Greece, Asia Minor, and many monuments have Medusa's shadow.
In fact, in Greek, the word "Medusa" also means "protector" or "guardian". I guess the ancient Greeks regarded Medusa as a totem to ward off evil because of her powerful power, so the image of the gougon can be seen everywhere on the lintels, palaces, courtyards, coins and jewelry. It's a little bit of a door god or a talisman.

Any city in Turkey can see the arts and crafts "demon eyes", has become all tourists must buy the arts and crafts, is from the eyes of Medusa evolved, it is said to wear or hang on the wall, the car, can play the effect of avoiding bad luck, so it is also called "evil beads".

The most famous are the two Medusa statues in Istanbul, which are known as the most mysterious underground water palace in the world.

This vast underground structure covering 9,800 square meters, originally built by Constantine the Great and later rebuilt and enlarged by Justinian the Great, involving 7,000 slaves, is said to have been used to store water up to 100,000 cubic meters to solve the daily water problems of Constantinople's residents.
There are said to be several similar underground palaces in Istanbul, but none as famous as Yerabatan Palace.

Entering the entrance of the underground water palace, everyone will involuntarily excited, the dark underground palace, a little red light in the distance, as if it is the door to the unknown place.
The most attractive part of the water palace is the nine-meter-high stone columns, a total of 336, neatly arranged in 12 rows, each row of 28, spectacular like a forest of stone columns, supporting the brick vault of the roof.

It is said that there were koi in the water in the past, and now it may not be put again after repair, so you do not even see a fish tail, but you must not care about the fish at this time, after all, the scene is too shocking. At this moment, in addition to amazement, I was also irrepressible curiosity. Was the original purpose of this imposing underground structure simply to hold water?

What is particularly strange is that if this water palace is built by two Byzantine emperors who advocate Christianity, why there are two statues of Medusa in the water palace that are clearly full of pagan colors, which is in any case very strange.
There are a lot of coins under Medusa's head, so it seems that Medusa is a banshee who takes the place of gods and has the function of granting wishes. As I wandered along the trail, I was so distracted in my mind that I forgot to take a picture of the famous "pillar of tears," which looks like the trunk of a tree with peacock's eyes on it.

After the renovation of the water palace, there are also some modern decorative sculptures, and a huge hand is particularly interesting, which makes the whole underground water palace suddenly vivid.
It is like a demon god suddenly extended a hand from the alien world to the earth, but it could not stop under the deterrence of Medusa, so the hand stayed here, becoming evidence of Medusa's powerful power.

Topkapi Palace

Istanbul has two royal palaces, the Topkapi Palace on the north side of Hagia Sophia, known as the Old Palace, and the Domabachce Palace on the European part of the Bosphorus, known as the New Palace.

The new palace was built in the middle of the 19th century, when the Ottoman Empire was already waning and exhausted. In order to show the style and majesty of the empire, huge national strength and wealth were spent to build the new palace, and the empire fell apart a few decades later.

Opening hours of the new Palace: 9:00-16:00 in summer, 9:00-15:00 in winter, closed on Monday and Thursday. Tickets 60 Lira (including only the Palace of Rites), visit the Harem and the concubines, you need to buy a separate ticket 40 lira, or can buy a joint ticket 90 lira. Mortgage passport and other documents, you can get free Chinese interpreter. Visit Dolmabach Palace limit 1500 people/day, and can only queue to buy tickets on the spot, it is recommended to buy tickets on the morning of the opening, to avoid queuing time, and the flow of people is too large.

At the entrance of the new palace, there is a small mosque, whether it is an annex of the palace, a towering bell tower at the entrance, and the carving of the main door is very exquisite and magnificent, worth stopping to carefully admire. Although the new palace still retains the overall Ottoman architectural style, but a large number of Baroque and neoclassical style, compared with the old palace of lethality, indeed more imperial momentum. Built on the coast of the Bosphorus, can be seen by passing ships and ordinary people, the more the declining empire, the more it wants to show itself, but rarely think of the effort to revitalize itself, with the Empress Dowager Cixi appropriated the military expenditure of the Beiyang Fleet to build the Summer Palace is similar.

After entering the main entrance is an elegant courtyard, the fountain in the middle is full of seagulls, and on the left side there is a building with the same shape as the main entrance, which is suitable for taking photos. Then you can enter the ceremonial Palace of the new palace and start the tour process, the whole process can not take pictures can not take pictures, and there are a lot of security guards staring at you. The palace has the world's largest crystal chandelier weighing 2.5 tons given by Queen Victoria, the famous crystal ladder, and the utensils used by the Sultan, many of which are imported from Europe, and the luxury is absolutely beyond your imagination.

When you come out of the palace, giddy and sorry, the exit is the famous Watergate, the dock on the Bosphorus where foreign envoys sailed into the palace to see the Sultan. It is also very pleasant to walk around the courtyard of the palace building and look at the Bosphorus Strait next to it.