Konya Tropical Butterfly Garden, Kyoto Japanese Park and Meram Vineyards

Beyond its medieval mosques and prehistoric mounds, modern Konya is famous across Turkey for its expansive, immaculately maintained green parks. Two completely different green escapes, one futuristic tropical glass dome in northern Selçuklu and one 800-year-old riverside vineyard valley in south-western Meram, make ideal afternoon stops.

1. The Konya Tropical Butterfly Garden (Tropikal Kelebek Bahçesi, In Selçuklu)

Located in the Parsana district of Selçuklu eight kilometres north-west of the city centre (reached on Municipal Bus 47 or 58 from Kültürpark/Alaeddin or a 15-minute taxi ride, right on the way to Sille Village so you can easily visit both on the same afternoon), this architectural landmark is built in the shape of a giant glass-and-steel butterfly covering 7,600 square metres:

• Europe's Largest Butterfly Flight Area (3,500 m²): step through the airlock doors into a humid, 28°C tropical rainforest planted with 20,000 live tropical plants (bananas, papayas, orchids and palms) and waterfalls, where up to 10,000 free-flying tropical butterflies representing 45 to 60 exotic species imported as pupae from Costa Rica, the Philippines, Kenya and Colombia flutter right past your shoulders and land on sliced oranges.
• The Pupae Emergence Cabinet & Insect Museum: watch new butterflies emerging live from their chrysalises inside glass incubators before walking through the interactive Insect Village gallery (closed Mondays).

2. Meram Vineyards (Meram Bağları), Tavusbaba and Ateşbaz-ı Veli Tomb

Eight kilometres south-west of Alaeddin Hill (reached on Bus 1, 2 or 4), the arid Konya steppe suddenly gives way to the lush, tree-shaded valley of Meram Bağları, watered by the rushing Meram Stream (Meram Çayı) descending from Mount Loras. Celebrated in the poems of Mevlana Rumi (who walked here regularly with Shams of Tabriz and Hüsameddin Çelebi), Meram's historic stone 13th-century Meram Bridge (Tarihi Meram Köprüsü), 1424 Karamanoğlu bathhouse and riverside tea gardens are 5°C cooler than downtown in summer. While in Meram, climb the green hill above the stream to the tomb of Tavusbaba and stop at the unique 1285 brick octagonal Tomb of Ateşbaz-ı Veli (Mevlana's head cook, where visiting chefs take a pinch of blessed salt to bring abundance to their own kitchens). In northern Selçuklu, you can also stroll the pagodas and koi ponds of the 36,000-square-metre Kyoto Japanese Park (built with Konya's sister city, Kyoto).