Bolu: Secrets of the hills

by Recep Peker Tanıtkan

Adjacent to Ankara on the road to Istanbul, the province of Bolu is one of the capital’s nearest getaway destinations. Our travel correspondent took his notebook and camera to some of the less well-known sights of a province with lakes, hills and a ski centre which have earned it a reputation as “the Switzerland of Turkey”

A fleeting glance of snowbound peaks below the plane to Istanbul? A steep and misty stretch of the E5 motorway? These are perhaps the most familiar images of the province of Bolu. Yet on closer inspection Ankara’s northwestern neighbour provides many reasons to Take the slow road from mountain retreats, beauty spots and wildlife to sporting facilities and picturesque old towns.

Of Bolu’s three foremost attractions, the 2,200m Kartalkaya ski resort, 28km south of the motorway, and not far from the border with Ankara, is now out of season. By contrast, Lake Abant, 22km south of the motorway west of the city of Bolu, and the extraordinary Yedigöl National Park, which spans Bolu’s northern border with Zonguldak, are summer and – above all - autumn destinations.

Freshwater paradise

The picture-postcard serenity of Abant offers the luxury of hotel accommodation, the rigour of lakeside jogging or the adventure of a forest trek in search of the elusive local fauna – bear, boar and deer included. The “seven lakes” after which Yedigöl is named are mere puddles by comparison with Abant. Yet sunk hundreds of metres deep by glaciers and avalanches, they form a tiny freshwater paradise at the heart of a giant canopy of beeches, pines and other temperate species.

This remote jewel of nature is reputed to have been discovered accidentally by a trainee pilot. Still cut off from the West by snow throughout the winter, it also houses Turkey’s oldest trout farm (1969).

Nature and art

Besides these major attractions, the province where “green meets blue and they sleep and wake together” offers almost endless options for explorer, photographer and barbecuer. In all there are three nature conservation areas, four wildlife protection zones, seven forest holiday camps, 44 lakes of various sizes and 321 yayla or alps.

The built environment and human geography are worthy of attention too. Roman and Byzantine artifacts as well as some earlier local remains are exhibited in the provincial museum. Bolu city and the various district centres are home to numerous mosques, baths and mansions dating from the fourteenth century onwards.

Festival time

Several of these towns, from Gerede and Dörtdivan near the motorway in the northeast to far-flung, southwest-facing Göynük and Mudurnu, are modest urban gems which can reasonably pretend to tourist attraction status after the example of Safranbolu, Kastamonu and Beypazarı. Seben in the south is known both for its cave dwellings and for its unusual pine chalets, constructed without using a single nail.

Most districts have their own summer highland festivals with wrestling contests and local produce. Menem, the northernmost district, is the birthplace of Turkey’s best cooks, and stages a Cooks and Tourism Festival on September 1 each year.

Alternative tour

An alternative tour of central and northern Bolu might take in the following sights:

Gölcük: At the end of the windy road south from Bolu city you are treated to a Yedigölesque vision of water lilies and frogs over charming reflections of the pine forests and Forestry Ministry cabins. Just 8km away is the Karacasu thermal spring.

Beşpınarlar “Mountrain” Base Camp: Located at an altitude of 1,450m among the pine trees of the Beşpınarlar (“Five Springs”) plateau in the Aladağlar mountain range south of Bolu city and west of Kartalkaya, the Camp is Turkey’s first permanent campsite. Nature has been left untouched, making this an ideal centre for a wide range of group and individual outdoor activities.

Sırıklı Plateau: On a fine evening, the fire observation tower at Sırıklı provides a glorious view of the setting of the sun, with pine trees silhouetted against an orange and pink and purple sky – and the rising of the moon.

Wild horses: Another surprise: a herd of wild horses freely roaming Gerede’s Rumşah highland and the nearby Mount Arkut Ski Centre with their foals.

Goat Castle: The Keçi Kalesi stands on a hill near Mount Arkut rising in all its grandeur from a carpet of yellow wildflowers. During one of many sieges, the starving inhabitants tied candles to the horns of their goats and lit them and let them free. Believing a huge army was coming, the enemy ran away, and the people were saved. It is not the only Byzantine monument in the district.

Coppersmith’s bazaar: The craftsmen in the coppersmith bazaar in Gerede make minaret banners, ewers, lamps, braziers and milk buckets. They share the marketplace with makers and sellers of packsaddles, belts and leather goods.

Tradesmen’s Inn: A two-floor wooden inn in Gerede with a broad gateway and a large open courtyard. The inn features a coffee house, an area for the elderly to rest and a stable where racehorses are kept. There are small rooms on the upper floors. Since there was once a church inside the inn, it is also known as Kiliseli Han – the Inn with a Church. There can be few more pleasurable places to smoke a nargile.

Lake Yeniçağa: Just off the motorway, the lake is a bird reserve replete with cormorants, grey and white heron, wild ducks and numerous other species. There is a path along the shore of the lake for the use of fishermen and visitors alike. The lake, its sunsets and the surrounding district were also featured in the February edition of this magazine.

Wildflowers: Meadows of wildflowers are a common sight in the province at this time of year. The Dörtdivan plateau is carpeted yellow, purple and red. Heart-stealing corn poppies flutter in the breeze.

Köroğlu Falls: Reached after a trek through the Dörtdivan forest, the sudden appearance of the Falls is enough to make you forget all your exhaustion. The refreshing cascade is named after the local hero Köroğlu, a legendary rebel who made his home in these hills in the sixteenth century, championed the poor against the tyrant who had blinded his father and penned innumerable heroic poems and love lyrics.