Guide
Gölkay Park is a recreation ground laid out around a reservoir on the edge of İzmit, in Kocaeli. It is not a heritage site; it is where the city goes to spend a day outdoors. The circuit around the water carries a walking path and a separate cycle path, and around them are playgrounds, sports grounds, rest areas, viewing terraces, fishing platforms, lawns, a social facility building and a jetty. The unusual feature is a cable water-ski installation set up on the reservoir itself, and the park hosted an international youth and sport event in 2010.
One point to note before you go: the Ministry's own page names the reservoir Bickidere in its description but gives the address as the Cayirkoy reservoir, at the third kilometre of the Kandıra road; both readings are recorded here rather than resolved. The park is about 6.5 km from the city centre, and the Cayirkoy and Sepetci Köyü public buses from central İzmit run out to it.
