Turkey’s Capital Of Parks
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www.zaman.com As temperatures rise and the summer season starts to emerge in all its heat, Ankara residents are flocking to the city's parks and rest spots on the weekends.
Over the past decade, the inhabitants of the Turkish capital have seen a total of 4,573,000 square meters of recreation space made available for their use. Some of these places are spots like Mogan Park, Goksu Park, Harikalar Diyari and Mavi Gol, where people enjoy picnics and shed the stress that results from city living. What's more, residents of the capital can reach these parks and recreation spots by private vehicle or, if they want, mass transportation facilities.
Altınpark, Mogan Park, Göksu Park, Mavi Göl Park and Kuğulupark await Ankarites keen to escape the crowds, pollution and traffic of the city. Combined, Altınpark, Mavi Göl and Harikalar Diyarı (Wonderland) alone offer six-and-a-half square kilometers of green space to nature-hungry urbanites.ANFA is the firm responsible for the maintenance of most of Ankara's parks, including plant care and cleaning, according to ANFA General Manager Ferhat Ertürk. Mavi Göl, Göksu, Harikalar Diyarı and Moganpark, all Ankara Municipality projects, are the capital's most popular parks. Altınpark: Altınpark, which won an award for best park in the eastern Mediterranean, is a good reminder of the long-forgotten delights of nature. Altınpark invites Ankara's citizens to get away from the noise of the city in an environment where birds sing on tree branches and thousands of flowers bloom.The park has been called a landscaping wonder. It has 125,000 trees, 72,000 various plants and 2.5 million flowers. In Altınpark you can visit a greenhouse displaying and selling plants and an aviary with pigeons, eagles, peacocks and more. In the park's small lake you can adventure out on a boat or pedal-boat. During the summer nights you can watch plays put on by the Göl Theater; during the days you can visit İskele Tea Garden or the Yörük Tent and Picnic Area. Altınpark also has facilities for tennis, roller and skating and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Feza Gürsey Science Center, located in the park's center, plays host to important fairs and congresses and also includes a smorgasbord of restaurants, including international tastes from China and Italy. The park in addition has a wedding hall.Mogan Park: Following the road to Gölbaşı in the direction of Konya, you will reach Mogan Park. This park features a watchtower and a 130-meter-long wooden path. Mogan Park also has a two-and-a-half-kilometer walking track alongside the blue waters of the lake. Next to the lakeshore you will find barbeque area with dozens of metal pergolas. In the park, which has a 25-meter-high lighthouse, your children can enjoy the "Oyuncakistan" (Toyland) toy park and mini-train tours around the park. Children can also have fun in the water games pool with battery-powered boats.The park's amphitheater, built in the Roman style, can seat 3,000 and hosts many events during the summer. You can visit the Marine Museum and see aquatic tools and devices such as a pressure counter, distance counter and direction finder.The park has a large wedding hall, mini-racecar track, open-air cinema, 800-meter-long running track, tennis courts, basketball courts and cafeterias.Lake views with the feel of the sea: Mogan Park, which sits on 602,000 square meters in Golbasi, boasts a marina island reached by suspension bridges, a wooden shoreline path, running and walking paths, children's play areas (including special areas for handicapped children), three tennis courts, two mini football fields and basketball courts. In addition, the park also has a horseback riding center, a general sports center, the Mogan Lake Research Center, a lighthouse building, a small water craft center, a water depot, all sorts of different cafeterias, information buildings, a skateboard area, a bicycle club and a health unit. As a part of the Mogan Lake's four kilometer wooden walking platform along the shore there are three viewing terraces and 400 park benches. Picnic facilities at the park are generous, with barbeque and picnic tables able to accommodate 200 families at the same time. In terms of flora, more than 100,000 saplings have been planted in Mogan Park. The lake waters at Mogan Park are illuminated in the evenings by a laser system attached to the top of the lighthouse on the shores of the lake. Also overlooking the lake is an amphitheater that can hold 3,000 and a wedding salon for 1,000. Mavi Göl Park: Mavi Göl Park was constructed near Bayındır Dam, which has supplied Ankara with water for many years. The park has diverse flora and fauna, where you can see cockscombs, cypresses, Dwarf Alberta Spruces (Picea glauca albertiana conica), Cornelian cherry dogwoods (Cornus mas), wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei) and firethorns (Pyracantha coccinea). Many picnic areas also await visitors. Wooden gazebos around the lake and shaded picnic tables host weekend picnickers. For visitors that like fishing, there are wooden platforms and terraces for viewing the scenery. The pure waters of Mavi Göl offer many opportunities for water sports fans. Visitors can also take small sailboats or pedal-boats onto the lake. The park has facilities for running, volleyball, beach volleyball, basketball and football.In terms of recreation areas for Ankara residents, the giant Mavi Göl (Blue Lake) recreation area, built over 2,121,000 square meters of space near Kayas, comes at the top of the list. The Mavi Gol picnic area was created out of a rehabilitation effort aimed at Bayındır Dam. Only 12 kilometers outside of the city center, Mavi Göl meets all the recreation needs of Ankara residents.
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