Aşık Veysel Rekreasyon Alanı

The Aşık Veysel Recreation Area is a large city park in the centre of Bornova, stretching along the Bornova Stream. Named after the folk poet Aşık Veysel, the park covers about two hundred and thirty-one thousand square metres. Construction began in 2008, and İzmir Metropolitan Municipality opened the park in September 2010. A master's thesis prepared at Ege University examines the park as an example of recreation projects that return the banks of polluted or channelled streams to the city. A newspaper column written at the opening also mentions the statue of the poet whose body is likened to a tree. The park's best-known structure is its open-air theatre. At the opening it was presented as İzmir's largest open-air theatre, with a capacity of five thousand people. İzmir Kültür AŞ carried out a thorough renovation of the theatre in 2026; all five thousand two hundred seats were replaced, the stage roof was repaired and new trees were planted around the stage. The theatre hosts concerts and cultural events throughout the summer; a programme of eighty-five concert nights was announced for the 2026 season, with plans to continue events until the end of November if the weather allows. If you plan to come for an evening concert, check the programme and ticket details on the organiser's website. Inside the park there is also an Ice Sports Hall of twelve thousand square metres. The Olympic-size hall opened in the same period as the park and was designed for figure skating and ice hockey. It has stands for about one thousand seven hundred and fifty spectators, along with changing rooms and coaches' rooms. Since its early years the hall has also been known for special skating sessions for young people with physical disabilities, autism and Down syndrome. When the winter season ended, removable parquet flooring was laid over the ice rink, so that the hall can also be used in summer for other sports such as roller skating. This conversion gave the city an extra sports area of about eight hundred square metres for the summer. The basement of the hall holds the ice rink and the hockey pitch, the ground floor the stands and ticket offices, and the first floor a cafeteria and broadcasting rooms. The open areas include an artificial pond of one thousand five hundred square metres, three basketball courts, two tennis courts and a mini football pitch. Children's playgrounds, walking paths, resting terraces and a bicycle path one and a half kilometres long make up the everyday face of the park. A semi-Olympic swimming pool, begun in October 2019, opened in June 2021. In the middle of the park the municipality also opened a sports station where equipment for fourteen sports, including football, volleyball, tennis, table tennis, chess and yoga, is lent free of charge against an identity card. Free wireless internet is available throughout the park. In the 2026 renovation, food and drink areas were set up around the theatre for the first time, and the canteens and toilets were also overhauled. On concert nights publications of the İzmir City Library were also offered to readers on site. The best way to explore the park is to start around the pond. When you climb the steps of the theatre, you see the pond, the wooded area and the hills surrounding Bornova in the distance in a single frame. Because the bicycle path follows the bank of the stream, it suits walking and running in the morning or late afternoon. Shade is limited at midday in summer, so during the hottest hours it is more comfortable to stay in the wooded sections. On concert nights the park gets crowded, traffic increases on the surrounding roads and public transport is the better choice. The park is close to the centre of Bornova and to the mansions on Mustafa Kemal Caddesi; it is a walk of a few minutes from Paterson Mansion. The Bornova station on the M1 line of the İzmir Metro and the ESHOT buses passing through the district centre can be used to reach it. The park also has a car park, but it fills quickly on event evenings. After visiting the museums on the Ege University campus, ending the day here is a relaxed way to move from Bornova's historic face to its everyday life.