Istanbul

Parks and Recreation

The city has many public parks, including Yildiz Park and the Gulhane Park at Topkapi, home of the Istanbul Zoo. A park was developed on the site of the Byzantine Hippodrome. It displays the remains of the ancient

horseracing venue. Turkish men are known for spending their leisure time at coffeehouses (kiraathane), where many customers still smoke water pipes (hookahs). Both men and women enjoy the public steam baths (haman), but there are separate facilities for each gender.