Türkiye’s Altınköy Museum offers visitors authentic village life

Established by the Altındağ Municipality (Türkiye) to showcase village life, the Altınköy Open-Air Museum features structures such as a windmill, suspension bridge, grocery store, rose garden and historical houses, as well as various animals.

The museum, home to many animals including partridges, geese, peacocks, gazelles and cows, welcomes visitors who wish to experience natural life firsthand, CE Report quotes Anadolu Agency.

Every morning, the fresh milk from the cows is combined with ground and processed salep roots brought from the mountains of Osmaniye, creating one of the most sought-after winter flavors.

Known for its hard texture, the salep plant is ground into powder and mixed with fresh milk, then continuously boiled and stirred in a cauldron set over a wood stove.

The salep, to which no additives are added, is served to visitors from a traditional salep samovar located in front of the “Village Coffeehouse” in the museum square.

“Original mountain salep untouched by any industrial additives”

Dilek Kara Yılmaz, Director of the Altınköy Open-Air Museum, told an Anadolu Agency reporter that Altınköy is one of Turkey’s unique examples among ecological museums.

Yılmaz stated that the museum, which recreates a fully functioning village environment, is spread across 1,500 acres and hosts thousands of visitors each year.

She explained that the salep—an indispensable winter drink—is processed and prepared using the fresh milk collected daily from the museum’s cows:

“We started offering salep to our visitors in the first week of November. In our dairy at the Altınköy Open-Air Museum, we carefully combine the fresh milk of our cows with mountain salep grown in the mountains of Osmaniye.”

Pointing out that mountain salep is a very tough plant, Yılmaz added:

“The seeds are ground here and blended with the milk of our cows. One of our biggest claims is that we combine our natural, additive-free, freshly milked cow’s milk directly with mountain salep. It’s stirred for a long time so it doesn’t leave residue at the bottom. No chemicals or industrial ingredients are added—this is genuine mountain salep. There is great interest in our museum. We invite everyone to come and enjoy this winter favorite.”