'Sea Life' in Istanbul: Fun, but probably not worth it right now

I love zoos and aquariums, but they're often hard to find, or at least good ones are. I saw that Istanbul had a few aquariums and it instantly piqued my interest, curious as to what a country like this might have to share in regards to the nature that surrounds. I wasn't so sure about the zoo at least. Annoyingly, Sea Life was quite a difficulty to get to. Oddly located inside a huge mall area somewhat outside of the city. Your options are the insanely unreliable buses of Istanbul, which you're better off avoiding entirely, or the metro which is certainly better, despite the chaos of Istanbul's travel cards and topping them up. You're more likely to spend more time trying to commute to it than walking through the aquarium itself.

At the moment, Sea Life is undergoing renovations. A series of changes to what it exhibits. This means a lot of what it has to show isn't available for now, but they inform you on their website and in person before you pay for your tickets. This was nice, at least. Just in case you wanted to see a lot more. But the ticket price was still a bit steep: just under 600 Lira, or about £15. A usual ticket fee for a zoo or aquarium, but yeah, steep if your main attractions aren't available. We walked through it all in under an hour, and definitely spent more time commuting than enjoying the place itself.

Much of the aquarium took place on different levels. You would have to take a lift or escalator up and down, which sort of made it a bit more fun as this layer of depth made it more a mystery as you navigated through darker rooms. Each decorated in fun ways. Some really reminded me of SpongeBob Squarepants in design. But it was very dark in there; something I've noticed about Istanbul's museums and such, they're all far too dark. But some rooms have little events and descriptions on what the fish are and information on them. It's all in Turkish though. So you won't be finding much use of the text here. I'd suggest installing the Yandex translator application for text translation in real time, which will save you a lot of time and make your ticket feel more worth the price.

I wish I could have taken more of the atmosphere. The decorations and signs of effort put in. But yeah, too dark to really capture it. I even tried to capture some of it with my film camera, but my light metre just kept giving me a huge nothing.

What it did offer seemed fun though. I liked the design of the place, the way the initial elevator was themed. Some of the tanks were with fish eye perspectives too, making them appear huge as they would swim closer to the glass. I'm not sure how that ends up being for the fish, I doubt it makes much difference to them, but this perspective was interesting in seeing the details of their design and appreciate them more. Not all of them had this, at least. In particular, I think the most fun displays were the octopus, and the jellyfish; mostly due to the light changing that took place that did pull your focus to different areas of the jellyfish. They're such odd creatures, but so majestic to watch swim at different angles. Though much of the selection was quite thin. It felt a bit repetitive due to how much of the place was blocked off due to those aforementioned renovations.

But even here, it felt important to get up close and around some aspect of nature. Where Istanbul is a polluted mess void of nature. Sure there's the odd tree, but this is a city of stray cats and dogs. Scavengers and hunters. The few animals you do see are likely pigeons, ravens, or pets. It felt strange to know that around was a shopping mall, another one of humanity's creations that removed a habitat, only to place in creatures that didn't belong. Perhaps I'm now just older and more empathetic towards all areas of life, but I had this thought running through my mind as I walked.

And I hope some of this is reflected in the photography. I didn't want to put the camera too close to the tanks. I didn't want to spook them and feel as if I was invading. I aimed to capture them in their most simplistic of movements. Ones they make every day, perhaps every hour. Not trying to put on a show for us, not attempting to capture them in their most beautiful compositions, but as respected forms of life. Looking back at me as I look at them. I think there was more intimacy in the images due to this. They're not perfect in regards to lighting, composition, or the aperture. They were taken on a Sony A6000, but that doesn't matter here. Just to see these animals up close and watch them felt enough.

Watching them move, it seemed some wanted to escape. A particular case was a stingray, grasping at the netting that kept it within the small tank. Clearly trying to find a way out. The netting there due to people obviously trying to touch the stingrays, of which they still held their barbs; dangerous things that can easily kill. The same thing that ended the life of Steve Irwin.

I think it's hard to say whether Sea Life was worth the visit. For the time it took to get there, and for the lack of things to see due to the very open renovations that we were warned about, I don't think that the price is quite reflected in the current experience. Either wait, or find another aquarium. But if things do improve and it opens up a bit more, then there are plenty of things to see and do in the area even after or before visiting. With the shopping mall being around, there's bowling, general consumerism, the cinema, and the commute back into the city to look forward to. Assuming you're staying a bit more central in Istanbul.

It was definitely lacking in the translation department too. More signs in multiple languages would be nice for visitors from all over. Instead, it's mostly just catered to the natives. Small bits of English here and there, but nothing more when it comes to the large amounts of text that give facts and detail the animals on display. So you do end up sort of just walking through it all either guessing or not really taking in specific information.