Miniaturk

Unloading the ferry
Originally uploaded by ccarlstead

Saturday I took the opportunity (there was a bus) to go to Miniaturk. Now I’m not sure if you’ve heard of something like this, I know they exist in at least a couple of other countries but not in the US that I know of. Basically it’s like a little theme park (no rides or anything) that has miniaturized versions of what they deem important sites in the country. So I saw a miniature version of the Ephesus library (only came up to my waist), very small replicas of the statues found on Mt. Nemrut (complete with a sand mountain background), and a mini Blue Mosque, among other things. What surprised me was how many of the sites that they chose to build I could recognize before reading the sign (of course it helped that there was an entire section dedicated to Istanbul sites). It made me realize how much I have managed to see in Turkey in the past year…as well as giving me an idea of some of the other things I still want to see. I have to admit its kind of an odd concept (I mean really, why would you build that many replicas of places?) but enjoyable in its own weird sort of way.