This time I must say something about my favourite flowers. Few days ago I learnt the tulip was the symbol of Ottoman. Interesting. After that I started searching more info about that fact and I realize how important this flower is. My motivation for that post was TV news about 8th Istanbul Tulip Festival/İstanbul Lale Festivali 01.04.-30.04.2013.
I don't know why but I don't like roses. Maybe because they are too proud for me. They are beautiful and strong like queens and I've never wanted to be a queen. I'm sure my wedding flowers will be tulips. :)
It's not difficult to count. 1st Istanbul Tulip Festival was in 2005 and from this date, every April Istanbul blooms of millions of the most beautiful flowers (in my opinion) which communicate that spring came!
http://www.istapin.com/istanbul-lale-festivali-galeri/
http://www.istapin.com/istanbul-lale-festivali-galeri/
Istanbul is a good place for that kind of event because of many reasons but the most important are two of them:
1. only in Istanbul we can trust weather; it's sure tulips will bloom - without doubts;
2. tulips come from Turkey! yes, Turkey (!) not Netherlands.
In 1554 Sultan sent bulbs of tulips as a gift to Vienna. Flowers from East were different than any flowers in Europe and because of that they became popular so fast. From Vienna there were distributed to Amsterdam and different European cities. Now, people think the country of the tulips is Holland but it's a big mistake.Time when tulips were cultivated in Ottoman Empire is called Tulip Period. During festival tulips are everywhere there is free space for them. City will host many activities during the 8th International Istanbul Tulip
Festival like live music concerts or painting, sculpture and photo exhibitions.
It's possible to buy various tulips species there!
This year the most spectacular thing is "Tulip Museum" in Emirgan Park where we can see rare species of tulips with original paintings of Ottoman gardens. In 2013 Turkish government spent 13 000 000 TL for 20 000 000 kinds of tulips. 
I told tulips were the symbol in past but now they are too. They mean romance, perfect and true love full of passion. Every colour has different meaning too: red - true love, yellow - hopeless love, orange - warmth or fascination, pink - confidence, purple - royalty. More here: http://tulipflower.net/tulip-flower-meaning.
More beautiful photos here: http://www.istapin.com/istanbul-lale-festivali-galeri/
DO YOU LIKE TULIPS?
