Beypazarı

Beypazarı sits in a valley about a hundred kilometres west of Ankara and was a stop on the old trade route to the Black Sea, which paid for the houses: several hundred timber-framed konaks with whitewashed walls, dark beams and jettied upper storeys, stacked up the slopes and restored over the past three decades in a programme that has become a model for other Anatolian towns. The old bazaar is still working, and the town's trades are specific. Telkari, filigree silver, is worked in workshops around the market and sold from them. The local baklava is made with eighty layers of pastry, which the town states as a fact and a challenge. Beypazarı carrots go into everything including carrot lokum and a carrot juice sold everywhere, and the mineral water is a national brand. The Hıdırlık hill above gives the view over the roofs, and there are house museums, a living museum and a hamam in the centre.

What you actually see

• The white konaks - restored timber houses up the slopes.
• The silver workshops - telkari filigree worked and sold.
• The eighty-layer baklava - the town's pastry speciality.
• The Hıdırlık viewpoint - the roofs from the hill above.

When to go

April to June and September to November. Weekends bring Ankara out and the bazaar is at its liveliest; weekdays are quieter and the workshops are working.

Honest expectations

It is restored for visitors and the main streets are given over to shops and cafés. Lanes are steep cobbles. Weekend crowds and parking are difficult. Ninety minutes from Ankara each way.

Nearby

Nallıhan's bird sanctuary and striped hills are west; Ankara is 100 km east.