Taraklı

Taraklı sits in a narrow wooded valley off the main routes, which is why several hundred of its Ottoman timber houses are still standing - two and three storeys with jettied upper floors, whitewashed between dark beams, along steep lanes that have not been widened for cars. A restoration programme has repaired many of them, and a number now work as small guesthouses. The Yunus Paşa mosque, built in the 1520s, stands in the centre with its wooden interior and a hamam alongside. The town's name comes from tarak, comb, and wooden combs and spoons carved from local boxwood were its trade for centuries; a few workshops still turn them out and sell them in the main street. Above the town are walking paths through pine and the Hisar viewpoint, and there is a thermal spring in the valley. It has been a member of the slow-city network, and midweek it lives up to that entirely.

What you actually see

• The timber houses - hundreds of restored Ottoman homes.
• The Yunus Paşa mosque - the 1520s building and its hamam.
• The spoon workshops - boxwood combs and spoons still carved.
• The valley walks - pine paths and the Hisar viewpoint.

When to go

April to June and September to November; autumn in the valley is the best of it. Weekdays for genuine quiet - it fills modestly at weekends.

Honest expectations

There is very little to do beyond walking and looking, which is the point. Lanes are steep and cobbled. Public transport means changing at Geyve; a car is easier.

Nearby

Sapanca Lake is about an hour north; Göynük and Mudurnu are east in Bolu province.