Groves and Gardens from Validebağ to Paşalimanı

Start the day at Validebağ. The grove lies where Üsküdar's Altunizade district and Barbaros quarter meet Kadıköy's Koşuyolu, and it is one of the largest green spaces on the Asian side. Its story goes back to Selim III, who built a vineyard pavilion here for his mother Mihrişah Valide Sultan. The land was later given to Bezmialem Valide Sultan, mother of Abdülmecid, who turned it into a botanical garden with trees and plants brought from around the empire and abroad. In the mid 19th century the pavilion now named after Adile Sultan was built inside the grove, and in 1927 the land was allocated to the Ministry of National Education.

Today the grove holds more than forty species of trees and shrubs aged between 15 and 400 years, among them black pine, Turkish pine, stone pine, yew, cedar of Lebanon, several oaks, plane, lime and willow. The Istanbul Birdwatching Society has kept records here since 2000 and more than a hundred bird species have been observed; 28 butterfly species have also been documented. Squirrels, hedgehogs and tortoises are a common sight.

The grove was declared a first-degree natural protection area in 1996 and a natural protected site in 1999. Besides the Adile Sultan Pavilion it contains the Sultan Abdülaziz Hunting Lodge, now used as a Scouting Museum, the Çamlı Köşk, a science high school and hospital units, so not every part is open to wander through; keep to the walking paths.

Entry is free and the grove is busy with walkers in the morning. The earth paths get muddy after rain, so wear closed shoes. If you want to watch birds, walk slowly and stop for a few minutes under the big trees to listen.

Source: Wikipedia; Hürriyet Seyahat.

The two-storey building rising in the middle of the grove is the most visible trace of Validebağ's palace era. Sources disagree on its date. The cultural inventory records and Wikipedia give 1853 and name Nikoğos Balyan as architect. The history published by the teachers' guesthouse that occupies the building today says that Altunizade İsmail Zühtü Paşa built a mansion here in 1860, which Sultan Abdülaziz had pulled down and replaced with the present building. Around 1863 it was given as a summer palace to Abdülaziz's sister Adile Sultan (1826-1899), whose name it bears today.

On the facade, note the double staircase leading up to the entrance. Inside, each floor has a large central hall, a principal room and service rooms. The building's later life reads like a slice of social history: an orphanage for girls in 1916-1917, a boarding school after 1924 and a sanatorium for children from 1927. Since 1991 it has served as a teachers' guesthouse and cultural centre of the Ministry of National Education.

What made the pavilion famous is cinema. The first series of Hababam Sınıfı films, much-loved Turkish school comedies, was shot here in the 1970s, and in 2014 one of the rooms was arranged as the Hababam Sınıfı Museum. According to press reports this room can be visited free of charge. The rest of the building is used for accommodation and cultural events, so keep to the parts open to visitors and check current visiting arrangements with the guesthouse.

Walk around the building to see its symmetrical facade and staircase from different angles; looking at it through the trees helps you picture how this estate was used in palace times.

Source: Adile Sultan Kasrı Öğretmenevi tarihçesi; Kültür Envanteri; Wikipedia; Hürriyet Seyahat.

Getting from Validebağ to Nakkaştepe takes a short bus or taxi ride. The Nakkaştepe Public Garden opened on 8 December 2018; it was built by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation and is run by Üsküdar Municipality, which presents it as Istanbul's first public garden of its kind. It covers 90,000 square metres. It is not a grove but a recently landscaped park, and it earns its place on this route because of its position: the hill stands right beside the 15 July Martyrs Bridge and looks down over the Bosphorus.

The real stops here are the viewing terraces listed by the municipality, from which you take in the bridge towers, the flow of the strait and the opposite shore in a wide sweep. Beyond the terraces there is a natural pond with a waterfall, a wooden bridge, an amphitheatre, a plant display area and an events meadow. Children have an adventure course, play areas and the Mucit Evi, a nature workshop, and a 3,200-metre track is set aside for running and walking.

After the century-old trees of Validebağ, here you walk through a planned landscape. Looking at the species in the plant display area is a good way to see the difference between the natural cover you saw in the morning and today's idea of a park.

It can be busy at weekends; to enjoy the terraces, come on a weekday before noon or early in the afternoon. There is a small prayer room, a cafe and toilets. The Kuzguncuk allotments lie a little over half a kilometre away as the crow flies, and you can reach them on foot through the streets heading downhill.

Source: Üsküdar Belediyesi; Wikipedia.

In the middle of Kuzguncuk, wedged between the houses of the neighbourhood, an area of more than 16,000 square metres keeps Istanbul's fading tradition of market gardens alive. Its old name is İlya'nın Bostanı, the garden of İlya, and locals still call it that. The land belongs to the General Directorate of Foundations; Üsküdar Municipality leased it in 2014 and set up the present arrangement.

The garden is divided into a hundred small plots. About fifty were given to local residents and the rest to schools and learning centres, and anyone who wants to farm a plot applies to the Kuzguncuk neighbourhood office. Looking at what people have planted is the easiest way to see what grows on this shore in each season. Alongside the plots there are fruit trees, medicinal and aromatic herb beds, footpaths, an amphitheatre, a playground and a basketball court. The area is open around the clock.

This is not a show garden but a place people work in. Do not step into the plots or touch the produce, and ask before photographing the gardeners. The garden hosts the traditional Hıdırellez spring festival and other neighbourhood events; come in early May and you may catch the celebration.

Afterwards you can take a short walk through the streets of the neighbourhood; Kuzguncuk itself is covered in more detail in other Radar routes. Then head towards the shore and walk south towards Paşalimanı; the Fethi Paşa Grove lies between Kuzguncuk and Sultantepe, a short walk away.

Source: Wikipedia.

End the route on the slope running down to the Bosphorus between Kuzguncuk and Sultantepe, in the Fethi Paşa Grove. It takes its name from Fethi Ahmed Paşa, a 19th-century Ottoman governor, ambassador and minister. According to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's tourism portal, he bought the land in 1858 and laid it out as a place of rest and recreation. After many years of neglect it was restored and opened to the public, and it is run today by the metropolitan municipality.

The grove's real asset is its slope. As you climb up from the shore side, the view through the trees opens onto the Bosphorus, the bridge and the European side, and viewing points within the grove let you take it in at leisure. This hillside, home to many tree species and birds, has walking and jogging paths, playgrounds and picnic areas, and there is a municipal social facility inside the grove.

Because the grove faces west over the Bosphorus, the late afternoon light is good here. As the sun drops towards the European side the colour of the water changes and the outlines of the opposite shore sharpen; if you are taking photographs, pick a spot higher up where the trees open out. You will have started the day in Validebağ and ended it in another grove, laid out in a different era for a different purpose.

Some paths are steep, so take your time going down. When you leave, walk south along the shore to the Üsküdar pier and head home by ferry or Marmaray.

Source: Visit Istanbul (İBB); Wikipedia.