The tulips are back in Istanbul!
As you may know, tulips are special in Turkey. So special they have their own festival in Istanbul. Every year, during the month of April, all the parks and actually almost all the green areas, welcome thousands of colourful tulips.
Tulips aren't from Holland but from the Ottoman empire (for the French-speakers, here is a nice article about the origins of the Tulips). Tulips are the Turkish national flower and to some extent, the symbol of Turkey. You can find tulip shapes on a lot of fabrics (bed covers, scarves etc) and some say the shape of the traditional Turkish tea glass comes from the tulip shape.
As a personal tradition, I went to Gülhane park to photograph those beautiful flowers. I love the softness of the petals and their transparency. I love their colours and shapes. And I'm very impressed by the work done by all those gardeners who not only plant the flowers but also take off the broken or damaged ones during one month.
Enjoy those incredible colors :)!
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