I expected something smaller, something not too impressive, but I was pleasantly surprised with how many fish were exhibited at the Forum’s Turkuazoo Aquarium in Bayrampaşa, Istanbul. According to the Forum AVM’s Turkuaz information page there are 10,000 kinds of fish in the aquarium. I’m not sure if there were that many. Nevertheless, colorful fish, awkward fish, and sleek fish together with bland, white fish, graceful fish and square fish swam in 43 different exhibits. Each fish had interesting features. There were effortless swimmers and those which seemed to struggle in the water. There were big powerful sharks and small helpless, metallic blue fish. There were beautiful fish, and there were ugly fish which somehow made the beautiful fish even seem ugly: as if to be a fish was to be ugly.

The Forum AVM is a colossal mall, complex slightly in its layout, and dwarfing the malls of Asian Istanbul. In many places it is four floors, three floors in others. Often you feel as if you’re walking outside–the ceiling is glass in many places–on some broad avenue in a new shopping district. Forum AVM boasts many stores: big ones like H&M and Boyner and Zara; shoe stores like Kemal Tanca and Nine West and Elisse; clothing stores such as Mango, Oleg Cassini, Gap Kids and U.S. Polo Assn.; and electronic stores like Sony. Fifty-four food restaurants help to alleviate the hunger pains.

The mall is accessible by Metro (M1 line) and Bus (32M) and taxi. We took the Metro because we had our stroller with us, and we were able to roll it right on the train and then into the mall without any stairs to climb up or down.

There are signs inside the mall pointing the way to the aquarium. While the aquarium is part of the mall complex, you have to walk outside through an atrium area to enter it. The entrance is opposite the Starbucks. The aquarium itself is one level below the ticket counter, so you must find the elevator or escalator. This isn’t difficult because workers steer you toward a big blue backdrop with a small toy shark in the corner. Two pictures of you and your group are taken. A normal one where you all look directly at the camera. Another one where you look at the shark. Following this, you proceed toward the aquarium downstairs. After you go through the exhibits, you have an opportunity to shop at a gift store and buy a picture of yourself (and your group) looking at the toy shark in the corner of the blue background.

Swimming with sharks is advertised all over the aquarium. Apparently, no training is necessary. And the sharks they advertise your swimming with weren’t the little reef sharks we saw. I didn’t see a price for this activity, and I didn’t ask. Has anyone tried this? Of course, the adventurous, throwing-caution-to-the-wind side of me wanted to do it. Then looking at the little boy in the stroller in front of me and thinking of how my wife would go on with a maimed (at best) husband stopped me from pursuing the idea further. I must say, the idea didn’t even come out in the form of “Oh, that sounds like fun!”

Our tickets were free as we got them from some friends. Normally they are 27TL per person. Children three and under are free. Students pay a reduced fee.

The aquarium is worth seeing. In the next post, I’ll introduce you to a few of the aquatic creatures we met.