Today we are going to discover a place a bit further away from the Kayseri city centre, anyway still well reachable by public transport. Just take the tram in the direction of İldem, and get off at Harikalar Diyarı stop. On your left, an amusement park will catch your eye immediately. Cross the road and enter the wonderland.
The complex consists of several buildings and areas. The most noticeable, as I already mentioned, is the amusement park – Mazakaland. Opened in 2013, it was the first theme park in Anatolia. It is named by Mazaka, the first city established on the skirts of Mt Erciyes in ancient times. It has four main sections inspired by civilisations. In the Anatolian Civilisation section, you can find a Trojan horse, in the Ancient Roman Civilisation you can see the Roman Colosseum for example. The other civilisations are African and Far Eastern. Of course, there is also a roller coaster and other attractions!
Anyway the park seemed closed now in the winter (at least the outdoor area), so we explored further. We passed an indoor ice-skating rink, different sports facilities and a laser game building, and decided to visit the Kayseri Science Center (Kayseri Bilim Merkezi). This comprehensive center was opened just on the last day of 2016, and therefore is still fresh and new! It cost 52 million Turkish lira to build it.
We were absolutely impressed by the display. The main hall is a “science trail” divided into six sections by different topics: Life, Motion, Earth, Air, Universe and Light. All the exhibits are interactive, you can touch everything, try different simulations and carry out experiments. It is educative specially for school classes and children, but you will enjoy yourself at any age, if you have at least a bit of a playful soul!
There is also an interesting exhibition about travelling to Mars. On the first floor, there is a planetarium (Turkey's largest, with a 14 meter diameter dome and 109 seats capacity) where you can watch educational shows about astronomy and stars. Furthermore, there are also workshop and laboratory areas and a library located in the building. The outside exhibits include a supersonic jet and a locomotive.
The center is open daily except Mondays from 9 till 17 o’clock, a ticket costs 4 TL, student ticket is half-price. All the descriptions are both in Turkish and English, and the staff is English speaking and very helpful, too!
Another object that we visited is located just across the street from the science center: Kayseri Zoo (Kayseri Hayvanat Bahçesi). It opened in the summer of 2013 and as far as I can judge, it seems pretty modern, with natural environment for the animals. According to its website, the zoo hosts nearly 2,500 animals. It also features a Natural Life Rehabilitation Center which is trying to contribute to wildlife conservation.
We have seen reptiles, tropical birds, tigers and pumas, camels, giraffes, bears, llamas, goats… The aim for the following years is to bring elephants and rhinoceros! Anyway, we had a feeling that some animals were not in their homes now in the winter season. The monkeys’ outside areas were empty, same for the lion cage. But we enjoyed the visit anyway!
The ticket costs 2,50 TL (student 1 TL) and the opening hours are daily from 10 till 16.30. Children under 6 years of age, disabled and people over 65 can enter for free. Unfortunately, everything is written only in Turkish.
So, if you want to relax, have fun and learn something new at the same time, Harikalar Diyarı is THE place to visit! Have a good time!
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