On the southern end of Ankara is Lake Mogan (Mogan Gölü). It is closer to civilization and streets than Eymir Gölü. However, it has a lovely park (Mogan Park) with several playgrounds and cafes and still has nice views. We went on a Sunday as DH was accompanying us. If you go to a park on a weekend, you need to get there early!

Entry was 5 tl and there were plenty of parking spots. The main road through the park is one way. We drove down a bit until we got to a parking area near a playground and stopped there. If you are grilling, drive all the way down to the end.

There is a sidewalk that goes along the water. We walked along the water, stopping to play at the playgrounds along the way. We saw some ducks in the water, including a few babies. The kids enjoyed the playgrounds a lot.

One spot along the walk has a little bridge to a small island where there is an observation tower. It is a spiral staircase up and fairly steep. Quite the nice view from up top and worth the climb!

Towards the end of the path were a ton of picnic areas with individual charcoal grill things, picnic tables, and shade covers. There were also running water stations periodically. By 11 am on a Sunday it was really crowded already with Turks bringing out their grilling supplies. If you want to grill on a weekend/holiday, get there early!

At the end of the walking path (and close to the end of the one way road), there is the largest playground in the park. It was starting to get crowded when we were there about 11:30, but the kids really enjoyed it.

We ended our jaunt at a cafe for ice cream (kids), a smoothie (me), and a coffee (DH). Pretty view of the water. We’d promised the kids ice cream, so I had to verify before sitting that they had it.

The easiest Turkish way to ask is “Dondurma var mı?” (mı is pronounced similar to muh) which means “Do you have dondurma?” (Dondurma is Turkish style ice cream. Very similar to US ice cream, but slightly different ingredients and a bit stickier). The response of “var” then means “we have it” while “yok” means “we don’t have it.” Luckily it was a “var” response! DS4 prefers çikolata (chocolate!) and DD7 prefers sade (plain–very similar to vanilla).

A fun day!

PS: Plenty of bathrooms.