Istanbul is a lively, busy place. You want somewhere cool and calm without the awe inspiring architecture of the great mosques and palaces. So, you come to Gulhane Park. Huge trees for shade, the smell of flowers and the noices of the great city reduced to a gentle hum. The park is huge, really big and a welcome, beautiful oasis in which to sit, gaze, read and think. Then you plunge, refreshed, back into the maelstrom of the great city you never really left.