Gülhane Park, Istanbul

Gülhane Park, Istanbul

This park was royal hunting grounds in the past. Today it’s a public park with lots of seasonal flowers, including huge patches of tulips in early April, and huge plane trees (platanus)-which means lots of shade as well.

This park was royal hunting grounds in the past. Today it’s a public park with lots of seasonal flowers, including huge patches of tulips in early April, and huge plane trees (platanus)-which means lots of shade as well. The high walls on one side of the park seperates it from Topkapı Palace. At one end of the park are a group of nice outdoor cafés-all of which basically serve the same drinks and snacks-with a view of Bosphorus, a view that is as charming as the view from the Palace situated right above. Those cafés sell tea by teapot (which equals to well over 5 glasses of tea), and a teapot of tea costs 6 TL, or 8 TL for two persons for which you will get a slightly bigger teapot (note that while tea in each teapot is enough for two persons, they only serve one glass if you order one-person-teapots which cost 6 TL). On your way to the cafés, don't forget to check out the Column of the Goths (Gotlar Sütunu), a Corinthian-style marble pillar dating back to Roman times, located just behind the entrances of cafés. It was erected in honour of victory over Goths of either Claudius II Gothicus (r. 268-270) or Constantine the Great (r. 306-337), and it likely is the oldest artifact dating back to Roman era that is still intact in the city and possibly predates foundation of Constantinople, with some badly deformed Latin inscriptions on its pedestal. Also near the café is the ruins of a monastery dating back to Byzantine times. The park has two gates, one near Sultanahmet (on the street between Sultanahmet Sq and Sirkeci, the street on which tram runs), and the other on the avenue lying on the coastline. To get to Sirkeci/Eminönü from the latter, turn left after exiting the park.