Our second day in Bursa we started at the Science and Technology Museum in the morning (Bursa Bilim Ve Teknoloji Merkezi).  It had 4.5 stars over 1,600 reviews on Google Maps so we were optimistic. We got there just after a 9 am opening. Went inside and they were clearly surprised to see us! The ticket guy didn’t seem inclined to sell us tickets and got on the phone and held his finger up to us.

Uh oh. Were they closed? Had the coronavirus shut them down? (At this point, Turkey had only 6 cases and nothing was closed yet that we were aware of). Finally a young man appeared who spoke English. He was thrilled to see us and told us he thought we were the first Americans to visit the museum. There were no tickets to purchase as entrance was free. They have us some hand sanitizer to use and then he gave us an introductory tour of the museum.

Essentially, several exhibits were shut down for renovations, so there was really only one large room we could use. The kids enjoyed running around looking at the exhibits, but half of them had instructions only in Turkish. Half did have at least some English. Many of them I could figure out what should happen because we have been to many science museums around the world and there are only so many unique topics to present! But parts were missing or broken, so we couldn’t do everything.

The favorite one by far for the adults and DD6 was this tunnel that explored balance. There was a dark tunnel with a stable, unmoving walkway with railings that went through the middle of the tunnel to the exit at the opposite end. But when you entered, the walls around the walkway appeared to move, lights moved, and the noise of rocks tumbling in a tube started. The combo of sight and sound of movement really made your brain think you were falling and tumbling even when you weren’t. It was so hard to walk down the walkway!

After the museum, we headed to Zeytinbağı an hour away. Read about our day at the Sea of Marmara here.  

Overall, the museum was fine and since it was free, we didn’t mind too much that things were closed.