Saturday 25 April 2009

Lale Festivali

Tolga and I have missed the 4th International Istanbul Festival which officially took place on 12-19 April.

The 3 million tulips planted by the city government everywhere are still around of course, only not in their beautiful bulbous form. Or so I thought. Hahahahahahaa our visit to Gülhane Park changed my mind. The oldest park in Istanbul is gorgeous with miscellaneous colours of tulips!

Lale means tulips in Turkish

For such a beautiful flower.. I'm surprised they don't smell at all

Red tulips cushioned by little blue pansies (pansy ooohhh.. pansies LOL)

The feathered tulips.. one of the variegated varieties of the breed

Hahahahahahahaaa a bastard stalk :P

The good ol' gardener exterminating the weeds which lurk in the midst of the pure breeds

We walked around aimlessly within the vicinity, enjoying the breeze and sunshine.

I loved the tall and lean trees towering above us. Everyone in the park were taking pictures with the lovely lale just like us both.. until we were ambushed by a gypsy lady. OMG. She practically robbed us by pestering Tolga to buy a rose (which was prolly plucked from somewhere) and tailed us for a few feet. We declined politely, tried to walk away until she left a stalk on my chest and kept saying well wishes for our relationship/future/happiness etc.

Hahahahahaahaa Tolga had to give in upon hearing the good words.

"Well, you can't say no to her when she's so persistent" - Tolga

Then I hope her blessings will follow us through and through :)

The nice, broad lane in the Gülhane Park/House of Roses Park

We spotted a stork in its nest high above in the tree!

And down below, silly dogs contributing natural fertilizers to the flowers LOL

The rose was rather a hassle to be carrying all over the place, but fortunately we spotted a bronze statue of Atatürk and I laid it there for him. It reminded me of the many statues of historical figures and monuments in Moscow where bouquets are always placed beneath them. Tolga and I smiled to each other, feeling happy that we did something we learned from Russia :)

From culture to culture.. excellent way to get rid of the rose :P

4 comments:

aManda玲慧 said...

Gorgeous! I love those flowers, so lively :)

Gorgeous Ol' Eve Loves Vanilla. You? said...

Yeahhh.. Turkey's national flower ;)

Kev said...

Hi CJ,

Beautiful tulips. I could also feel the serenity surrounding the park. And the weather - is it autumn over there?

Nice!

Gorgeous Ol' Eve Loves Vanilla. You? said...

It's springtime now.. getting warmer but the wind makes the weather a bit cold at times.

Apart from that, it's really lovely here! :)