Every year during the month of April, Istanbul is decorated with millions of colorful tulips throughout the city’s parks, along sidewalks and most other public spaces where there’s at least a tiny amount of soil. It really is an amazing welcome to Spring. This year is no exception. The city is in full bloom and we’re even starting to have some decent weather to match.
Some may associate the tulip with the Netherlands but it is actually said to have originally grown on the Asian steppes and first commercially cultivated in Turkey during the Ottoman Empire. There is even a time period called Lale Devri or The Tulip Era. The name tulip (Tulipa) comes from the Turkish word tulbent, or turban, because of it’s distinct shape. The flower is so symbolic here you can see it everywhere from tiles, ceramics, fabrics, and even it’s shape landscaped on the hills along the city’s highways.
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