Tulip time

There are billboards all over the city now that say "Istanbul'da lale zamanı" (Tulip time in Istanbul). So today Meltem and I went to Emirgan again, and whoa, they weren't kidding – the place was ablaze with tulips and other flowers. Herewith we share our enjoyment. Note that comments FOLLOW the pictures they go with.



Like I said – ablaze.



There were lots of different types of flowers this year, unlike last year when (according to Meltem) there were just tulips. Whole beds of hyacinths, some of which you see here at the bottom, gave off a lovely sweet scent.



Lots of flower beds had a number of different flowers together, making for nice color contrasts.



Alert MelbaBlog readers will remember a wooden log-fountain thingy that I mentioned in our last post about Emirgan. Well, here it is again, only now it's barely noticeable among all the flowers that have sprung up around it.



Sometimes shadow, and not just sunlight, brings out the best in flowers.



In addition to the riot of color, we were amused by this very odd tree. It seems to have had a serious change of mind sometime in its development.



And, of course, I've saved the prettiest flower for last!