Gölyazı

Gölyazı occupies a small peninsula reaching into Lake Uluabat, joined to the shore by a short bridge, and it sits on the site of ancient Apollonia ad Rhyndacum - fragments of the Hellenistic wall and column drums are built into houses and garden walls all over the village. Fishing is still the work: nets are laid out on the quay, boats are drawn up along the shore, and crayfish and carp from the lake go to Bursa. The houses are stone and timber Greek-era buildings in various states, and the shell of the church of Agios Panteleimon stands roofless in the middle of the village, its brick walls open to the sky. At the neck of the peninsula grows the tree everyone photographs: a very large weeping plane, hundreds of years old, its branches propped and trailing to the ground. Storks nest on the poles and chimneys through spring and summer, and the lake is good for birds generally.

What's there

• The weeping plane - the huge propped tree at the village neck.
• The ruined church - Agios Panteleimon roofless in the centre.
• The ancient stonework - Apollonia's wall and columns reused in houses.
• The fishing quay - nets, boats and the lake beyond.

When to go

April to June and September to November - spring for storks and nesting birds, autumn for light on the lake. Weekdays are near-empty.

Good to know

The village is small and partly run-down; restoration is patchy. Facilities are a few cafés and fish restaurants. The church is a shell and not entered.

Nearby

Bursa is about 40 minutes east; the Manyas bird reserve is further west around the lakes.

Key facts