During my stay in Istanbul, I visited a lot of places in this city, which delighted me.
From street markets, the widely known Grand Bazaar (Kapali), to mosques, temples, palaces, palaces and parks.
And when I set out to discover the wider surroundings of the city, I found at the very end of the Golden Horn Bay, Miniaturk, a place where you can check your knowledge as a recap, by looking at all the miniatures of Istanbul.
But you can also learn about the story of some other localities in Turkey and (Anatolia) Asia Minor, as well as those places to which the Ottoman Empire extended.
This park of miniatures Miniaturk, with over 135 models made on a scale of 1:25, is among the largest in the whole world.
The park is designed to encompass three key periods (and regions) of Turkish history.
The miniatures are divided into units, so in one part of the park you can see some of the most important buildings Anatolia in miniature Istanbul that represent the symbols of the city: Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi and Dolmabahçe Palaces, Galata Tower, Rumeli Hisari...
In the second section there are buildings from Anatolia (Turkey).
These are the monuments and some natural attractions that can be found all over today's Turkey: The Mausoleum in Halicarnassus and the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus (two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), Sumela Monastery carved into the rock, Pamukkale, Stone houses in Mardin, Anitkabir, the Selimija Mosque in Jedren and the hills of Cappadocia known for their hot air balloons...
And in the third part, there are models of buildings outside the borders of present-day Turkey, on the territory of the former empire.
In this part you can find some models of localities or monuments that I had the opportunity to see during my travels in the Balkans.
The most recognizable is certainly the Old Bridge in Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
But there are also many more important and valuable models: The Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the Tomb of Sultan Murat in Kosovo...
Among the models there are also some more recent buildings, the Istanbul stadium, with figurines of players, a model of the Bosphorus Bridge that you can walk across, and there is also a model of the old Ataturk Airport.
With audio guides, this park can be an outdoor classroom where you can learn a lot about the history of Turkey, the history, rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire, but also learn a lot about the way of life and customs in Asia Minor. I had the opportunity to visit some of these Istanbul models live and I will share that experience with you in one of the following posts.
With this here, I just want to make an introduction to some of the great buildings that I will present to you in the following posts.
See you soon, greetings from Miniaturk.