NOV 29, 2021, MONDAY:

SUMMARY: Minaturk [fantastic miniatures], Upside down house[such fun]... wanted to go on Bosphorus cruise by state ferries, had to return home as rain started pelting

RAIN:

When we planned our Turkey vacation at a fortnight notice one major constraint was that November is rainy season in most parts of Turkey. Also day light hours are less, it gets dark by 6pm. We had decided to go ahead anyway as we thought the pros of less crowds and pleasant weather/no heat outweighed rain issues.

Istanbul had been facing rains before we landed for our 1^st stint, but our stay had clear weather.

Cappdocia does not have much rain , it's dry most of the year, but wind was predicted to be a problem for hot air balloon rides especially in winter and the minus temperature in the mornings a turnoff. But we had no weather issues and had a wonderful time there as well.

Antalya is rainy in November, even storms rage, again we had lovely weather. It was raining a bit only when we drove to the airport... even that was a drizzle.

In Izmir it was raining a bit when we checked in at Selcuk and we carried our umbrella for our museum visit. The next day also it rained in the morning but cleared by 9 am. There was rain when we drove from Pamukkale to Izmir and we had to be slow on the slick roads..

when we landed in Istanbul rain was predicted for Sunday but we had great weather and visited so many sights.

So when rain was predicted for Monday, we were not too concerned. Thankfully, I put in our passports safe in the room and we started off for the day.... [OK, You know how this is going to end, YES, we were DRENCHED by the pelting rain in the afternoon and had to rush back.]

To continue with the morning... there were dark clouds in the sky. We took the tram up to Eminönü

At Eminonu, there are state ferries as well as private ones for a cruise on the Bosphorus... we scheduled it for the afternoon [never got to take it as the rain Gods had other plans for us]

and the bus 42 to Miniaturk. Our Istanbulkart was running out but the driver waved us in.

We kept an eye on the blue dot in the phone google map to know when to get down off the bus.

MINIATURK

Miniatürk is a miniature park at the northeastern shore of Golden Horn in Istanbul, Turkey. It opened May 2, 2003. It is one of the world's largest miniature parks, with a 15,000 m2 (160,000 sq ft) model area and total area of 60,000 square metres (650,000 sq ft). It contains 135 models, in 1:25 scale of structures from in and around Turkey.

Of the park's total area, 40,000 m2 (430,000 sq ft) is open space; 3,500 m2 (38,000 sq ft) is covered; and 2,000 m2 (22,000 sq ft) contain pools and waterways.

62 of the park's structures are from Istanbul, 60 are from Anatolia, and 13 are from the Ottoman territories that today lie outside of Turkey

There was this UPSIDE DOWN HOUSE at the entrance. That is another attraction. We first visited Miniaturk

This is the level of detail in all the miniatures

The full model is below...

Every model was sign posted and we enjoyed all of them with special appreciation for those we had visited, and regret to see the others we had missed. Videos give a better visual than pics, link is at the end of the post

Hagia sophia

This bridge is called the bridge to Europe...just ropes for railings and swaying precariously in the wind...We went through it once and for returning chose the safer alternative of the ramp.