İstanbul Modern @ Galataport

Located in its purpose-built new home, İstanbul Modern — an art museum that sits on the waterfront — is part of the Galataport complex.

It had not yet opened to visitors when we stopped in İstanbul on our Insignia cruise in April 2022. The museum’s proximity to the cruise terminal made it an excellent choice for us today since Oosterdam’s scheduled 3:00p departure meant that we had a short day in port.

We arrived at the museum five minutes before it’s scheduled opening at 10:00a and were amongst the few to enter at that early hour. A quick stop to purchase tickets — ₺120/person for 65+ ($4.25 at today’s exchange rate) — and soon we were making our way up to the first floor to begin wandering through the various halls hosting exhibits.

Admittedly, modern art is not really our cup of tea. But the museum is very well done. And we did find a number of pieces that made sense to us. The interpretation of some of the others left us befuddled and scratching our heads. Nonetheless, the museum was worth the price of admission … more so when converted to USD.

Our tickets also gave us access to the observation deck on the top floor … with a reflecting pool doubling our pleasure in the scenery around us.Baca lagi