Blog 3: A walk in the Park - Adana Central
Today is Saturday the 3rd of November 2012.
Today is Saturday the 3rd of November 2012.
Yesterday we just had a day of rest and a
little walk so nothing much to report. But today we set off to the Optimum Shopping
Centre by Central Park Adana.
I am wearing what I like to call my “Where’s Wally” shirt which
is an old work shirt which I wear once on holidays to show my workmates back
home how far it’s travelled and rub it in that I’m on holidays far away! J
We took the subway which is pretty new in Adana. We chose a
brand new underground station to start our journey and found it devoid of
people!? What a contrast! Above us, busy traffic and below quiet as a mouse,
not a sole. I wanted to take a picture but the security stopped me.
Like anywhere in these parts, security guards or police are prevalent
in most public places. It feels strange when we don’t have any security like
this at home.
Once we got on the train ironically it was pretty full. The
train was also modern and clean.
The Optimum Shopping Centre
http://www.optimumoutlet.com/https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=36.992853,35.337589&spn=0.011586,0.016994&t=h&z=16&msid=200302479427406736865.0004a07ad84ffa6a2c530
Aim for the Hilton Hotel, a tall building that stands out
because there nothing around it to compete, or aim for the Sabancı Merkez Camii (mosque) which apparently is
the largest Mosque in all Turkey with a capacity of over 28,000 people!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabanc%C4%B1_Merkez_Camii
If you aim for
these buildings you will find the The Optimum Shopping Centre which is a
very new shopping centre on prime real estate overlooking the river with
beautiful views of the magnificent Mosque and its equally magnificent gardens
(all 52,600 square meters of
gardens)
The 175 or so
shops in this Shopping Centre are modern
and most of the well known chain stores. And this centre does have “free” clean
toilets which is a bonus! (You frequently have to pay to use toilets in Turkey
and they can be of mixed quality – If you don’t know how they work it can even
be scary! lol )
In the shopping
centre there is a large electronics store which I like and there is a mixture
of American and Turkish fast-food outlets in the food court on the top floor.
This is a multi-story
complex, food supermarkets down stairs, fashion, electronics and gift stores in
the middle floors and games, a cinema and food court at the top (plenty for the
teens on the top floor). There is even an ice skating ring which is nice to sit
close too on hot days.
ATMs and all your
needs are at this centre though don’t expect Turkish Bazar or street market
prices here. It’s very western, you don’t bargain for goods here but they do
have sales.
Like any major
shopping centre in Turkey you have to pass through security first to get in
(similar to airport security).
We ate at Hosta which
was relatively inexpensive and ok. I won’t detail blog about it because it hit
the hunger bug but not the delight bug. Nothing to write home about really.
Fast food rarely is! I am lucky, I get to eat some home traditional Turkish
cooking via my Mother-in-law and she is a great cook!
At the food court
they do have a little play area for the little ones but it could have more and
it did need a good clean from what I could see.
Otherwise it was
all very nice.
CENTRAL PARK
ADANA
After the shops we decided to skip the train and walk home
via Central Park. This was very nice. When I mentioned the gardens were well
maintained at Ataturk Park in my last blog, well they are magnificently
maintained at Central Park, Adana. And there is a large playground to die for.
No, again there is no soft fall, but it’s an adventureland to any kid and a
credit to Adana! Fantastic!
Coming to the park we had to cross a very nice foot bridge,
right next to AQUA LAND, a water themepark. We went to this place last time I
was here and it was a lot of fun. Many slides and pools, however they don’t all
operate at the same time and only during school holidays.
As we were about to walk over this bridge to Central Park 3
kids ran up to me saying something in Turkish, very excited by my camera. My
wife translated that they were pleading for me to take their photo and so I
did. They were totally adorable kids and I wish they could see the picture
because it’s the picture of Turkeys youth, so innocent, and full of hope. I
wish I could give these kids the world!
I will let my other pictures do most of the talking for this
park this time but I need to say this park has so many aspects and
personalities, water features, sculptures and flowers, you could spend a day
exploring and my pictures to do not cover much.
There’s a few cafes within the park as-well. We went to one
at the opposite end to the mosque (near a little market and McDonalds). This café
was perfectly set on the river and nice for a “cay” tea. Tea is 1 lira but for
a coke you can pay 4lira so stick to the tea because you don’t get a class or
ice with your coke. Something I really expect for the price and on a hot day.
It is nice place however to watch the ducks over the water at this café and
they have many ducks and other animals wandering around to amuse the kids.
One of the great things in Central Park is the little train
ride you can take which tours around the whole park. And it costs just 1 lira
for adults and kids free. It’s really is a long ride and great value taking you
past all the attractions. Well done Adana for this park!! First class!!
We noticed also many of the local dogs hanging around the park freely. There are literally hundreds of stray dogs in Adana, mostly around the lake, but they wander through the streets too. They are tagged by the government and monitored for movements, habbits I guess. This one below was very thirsty!!
Lastly before I finish I will drop a picture of graffiti we
passed on the walk home. I do this because it was the only graffiti I saw in
the city so far and at least it has talent. They could certainly teach our
teens a thing or two back home where I come from. The teens I am in contact
with only seem capable of ugly tags with no meaning. Where’s the talent gone??
That’s me signing off for the day.
Cheers
Andrew
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