Merkez Park (Central Park) runs along the east bank of the Seyhan for about a kilometre north of the Sabancı Mosque. It is the city's main green space and the best place to escape the summer humidity: avenues of palms and plane trees provide shade, fountains and ponds break up the lawns, and locals gather here in the cool of the evening for picnics, tea and bicycle rides.
The park is at its busiest after dark in summer, when whole families come out for çay and the famous local watermelon. A pedestrian bridge crosses the river to the western bank.