Aydos Forest, which is one of the rarest green areas in a city like Istanbul, is home to many visitors with its beautiful natural beauty and fresh air. The Aydos Forest, which is an ideal place for those who want to walk and take a lot of oxygenated air, is also located in Aydos Pons which has a perfect view for its visitors. The Aydos Forest, the Aydos Pond and the Aydos Hill opposite the pond are worth seeing. You can easily find everything you want in this place which is arranged as a unique picnic area. Aydos Forest is located in Kartal district of Istanbul, where you will enjoy walking for a healthy like thanks to both picnicking and waling path in it.

    Aydos Forest features, long pine trees adorned with the Aydos Forest was used as a hunting area in the past especially the Ottomans. It is a beautiful place where you will want to listen to the sound of nature. From the forest because it is placed in a high mountain you can take picture of the people bored of city traffic and plenty of landscapes. This natural wonder which combines with two different forest in the west has a very wide flora. Bee hives can be seen as you walk through the woodland. Because there is a small village in the woodland. In this village you can catch up with many animals. At the same time there are those who buy milk and from the villagers. Aydos Forest as seen in a complete natural habitat. This forest path, which is not considered to be too big as a face measurement, is arranged in three different ways as a way of fire and transportation. Aydos Hill, which has completed the view across Aydos Forest located on the Anatolian side, is the highest point of Istanbul and the view of the unique Anatolian side of this hill is a magnificent view. Since Aydos Forest is located in the city, it is a place where you can reach many roads without getting tired of traffic jam. It is therefore worth a visit.

    Besides all of these beautiful things about Aydos Forest with the help of past years’ records we can see that Aydos Forest has faced many different things. For instance, on 27^th November 2015, president of Kartal, at the time, Dr. Altınok Öz helped many students plant their own sapling to this forest which was a great way to teach students that we have to protect the environment. On 13^th April 2016, there was a Spring Festival which had hundreds of participants. On 26.09.2018 30 university students collected garbage in Aydos Forest without anyone asking them to do so. The activities name was “Every garbage is not garbage”. After that they were awarded by the president of the region. However, on the other hand we can see many forest fires in the Aydos Forest.

    What my point is that in a crowded and industrial city like Istanbul we the citizens and the government managed to protect and keep clean a huge forest. If we look all around the world, we cannot see many examples like this one, a crowded city having a huge forest with animals and a village in it. Therefore, I am proud of myself and Kartal citizens because even though it seems like it is not a huge deal for many people, it is since it is for the good sake of humanity.

                                                                                                                           UMUT KARADENİZ