Here's a quick photo tour of Emirgan Park, a lovely and large (by U.S. and definitely Turkish standards) 117 acre park right uphill from the Bosphorus (I'm trying reference the Bosphorus in every post I write ;-)) and relatively close to us.

It is known for its three Pavilions which have been restored and serve as restaurants and cafes. They are all built in different styles and are painted in lively colors. It is a very popular picnic spot and there are hundreds of tables throughout the park. The odd thing for me is that people congregate on the paved picnic areas and stay off the grass. They have trails and small fences set up that lead me to believe that you aren't supposed to be walking or sitting on the grass. For that reason, little bean doesn't spend as much time getting to crawl around. Anyway, I love it and it's rare in both its size and how nice it is kept up, so we return again and again.

An Ottoman style (but recent) fountain.

The Yellow Pavilion was built to emulate a Swiss chalet.

The pond and fountain below the Yellow Pavillion. The design on the post here is the city crest of Istanbul.

One of the many play areas. Avast! Who be lurking in yonder porthole?

They are constantly keeping fresh flowers in all the beds. We missed the masses of tulips that were in full bloom in April and May, but these crappy flowers are okay to look at, I guess.

The squirrels here are friendly, but try to get into your stuff when you're not paying attention.

R.O.U.S.

The White Pavilion in the background, a giant tulip with a Nazar Boncugu in the foreground.

This container ship was the largest ship I've seen plying these waters. It let off a blast of its air horn that was LOUD way up here in the park. I saw a regular sized boat try to make its way across the wake of this thing. It looked nauseating. Later, when I was walking down by the seawall, you could see water splashed all across the roadway from this thing's wake. Impressive!

I have moved from the Rose City to the City of Tulips. The word tulip gets its name from the Turkish word for turban - tulbin. I always thought tulips came from Holland, but they are actually from the Asian steppes and were only cultivated in large scale in Holland.

A lovely little treescape. Any park with this many trees is a Very Good Park.