Apparently (as in, according to the Internet) in Ottoman times, Belgrad Forest was the main source of water for Istanbul and you can still see the remains of the dams, reservoirs and aqueducts. After the Ottomans conquered Belgrade in Serbia in the 1500s, a group of Serbs from the Belgrade area were brought to Istanbul and settled at the forest to help maintain the water supply, hence the name.
It's a little bit awkward to get to via public transport but was definitely worth it - we took the metro to the end of the line, then took a bus for 20 minutes to the nearest village, and from there it's only a 10 minute walk to the entrance to the forest, so about an hour door to door.
When we visited in summer (which was quite a short visit as we forgot to take insect repellent and I'm not a fan of midges), there were lots of cars as there are roads that go further into the forest and picnic areas etc. But this time, I barely heard a car and definitely didn't see one on the road that I was on, and we didn't see more than three or four people either.
Even though we only spent an hour there, it was so good to escape from the city and enjoy the trees and the silence (though it didn't stay silent for very long once J had decided he needed a snack...).
Look! Trees!
J enjoyed getting the chance to wear his new bear hat outside. He likes it so much that despite our flat being very warm due to whole-building-heating, he insists on wearing it inside our flat quite a lot of the time as well.
And our morning's adventure ended perfectly as we even managed to be back home in time for lunch and J's nap time!
