A Rainy Day Among Repurposed Giants on the Golden Horn

1. 01
   Culture

   See a Former Produce Market as a Library

   Visit Rami Library, an eighteenth-century barracks that later became Istanbul's vegetable market and, since 2023, a library. It spans thirty-six thousand square meters with four thousand two hundred reading seats. It is free and open 24 hours, so whenever the rain starts, this is a reliable indoor stop.

   Rami Library main entrance, Istanbul, Turkey
2. 02
   Exploration

   Stand Beside the Machine That Lit the City

   Go to the santralistanbul Energy Museum, where Silahtarağa, founded in 1911, served as the city's first large-scale power plant until 1983. The machine halls were not dismantled; they were left in place and turned into a museum in 2007. You can still see names like AEG, Siemens, Brown Boveri, and Thomson Houston on the turbo-generators.

   santralistanbul Energy Museum entrance, Istanbul, Turkey
3. 03
   Culture

   Generate Your Own Electricity

   Head into the Energy Playground inside the museum, where twenty-two interactive units let you produce your own electricity by pedaling, build a magnetic sculpture, and close circuits. This is where the giant generators in the machine hall become understandable through your own hands.

   Energy Playground entrance at santralistanbul Energy Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
4. 04
   History

   Measure the Rain at a Half-Open Museum

   Finish at Rahmi M. Koç Museum, Turkey's first industrial museum, opened in 1994 in a former anchor foundry building. Part of the collection is indoors in covered galleries, while part remains outside, including a submarine, rail cars, and ships. On a rainy day, this adventure ends here only halfway outdoors, and that is part of the point.

   Rahmi M. Koç Museum entrance, Istanbul, Turkey

Check opening hours before you go. Hours, access conditions and weather can change.