A Stroll Among Tulips

Ask people where tulips originated and the answer you will get from most is “the Netherlands.”

That’s partly true … but only in that the Dutch commercialized the flower to the point that tulips became an economic and cultural symbol of the country. They are responsible for the branding, if you will.

In actual fact, tulips were first cultivated by the Ottoman Turks as early as the 10th century. In fact, the flower gave its name to the period in Ottoman history known as the Lâle Devri (Tulip Era) … from 1718 to 1730 … a time of peace, and artistic and cultural significance. It was toward the latter part of the 16th century that tulip bulbs were introduced to the Netherlands … and they ran with it!

End of the history lesson. Now for today’s story.

Last week, we came across mention of a place called TuliPark … a tulip farm, really. It is the brainchild of a company that has over 40 years of experience in the flower sector … initially a family-run operation.

Every year a “blooming festival” is held at TuliPark, which mimics the Dutch countryside in several cities around Italy … Bologna, Bari, and Rome to mention a few. The farm is open to visitors sometime in March/April … the dates varying a bit depending on the weather and growing conditions. The rest of the year, the fields are maintained and prepared for the planting of new bulbs.

We decided to wait until this week to visit TuliPark, monitoring the blooming updates on the website. After several overcast days, when the sun came out and the sky shed its gloomy grey for brilliant blue, we decided to head there today … with the bloom forecast at 85%.

To get to TuliPark, we hopped on bus 11B from a stop near the apartment. After a 30-minute or so ride, we got off across the road from the park to find fields covered in a riot of color … what we would call a “renk cümbüşü” in Turkish.

Row after row of tulips in varied shades of red, burgundy, orange, yellow, pink, purple, and pristine white … some striped; some fringed. It was such a delight to walk amongst the rows of colorful blooms … stopping for photo ops that begged to be taken. The scene was simply … well, magical would be one way of describing it. That there were very few people visiting while we were there was a bonus. (I imagine we had an advantage over waiting for the 100% bloom, which falls on Easter weekend this year, and promises fields packed with visitors.)

Admission is charged to enter TuliPark … €9pp. In return, you get three tulips each free … additional blooms at €1 each. The best part? You get to pick your own tulips and take home a bouquet in a symphony of colors of your own choosing.

You don’t get to keep the bulbs, however. If the bulb remains attached to the tulip, as was the case with most of the ones we picked because the recent rain had softened the soil, the staff snip it off. They don’t do this to replant the bulbs themselves. Nor do they throw them away. Rather, these bulbs are donated to schools and institutes and municipalities. A form of civic-minded charity that is to be applauded.

We had a wonderful time at TuliPark and look forward to revisiting next year.Read more