“Stone Castle” Population: 500
Old name: Kızıllar
In the heart of Central Anatolia at Taşkale, near Karaman, an extraordinary overhanging rock stands pierced with row upon row of rock-cut wheat depots, each with a wooden door and a pulley to haul up the sacks. In the mid-1980s a larger space was hollowed out to create a small mosque right inside the rock. With rickety old houses tucked up underneath it, it’s an extraordinarily picturesque sight. There is nothing quite like it anywhere else in the country.
Prominently displayed is a portrait of Atatürk alluding to the claim that the paternal side of his family traced their descent from the Türkmen Kızıl tribe who settled here during the Mongol invasions. Ot that his mother traced her descent from Kızıllar who had settled in the area around Thessaloniki (Salonica) where Atatürk was born. Neither story appears to be founded on firm fact.
The journey to Taşkale from Karaman is in itself a delight. Head out of town on the Ereğli road where the air is sweetly scented by a string of biscuit factories. Once you pass the construction work associated with the İbrala Dam you will find yourself lost amid greenery until eventually you reach the sleepy and quaint village of Yeşildere which seems to belong to a long-lost Turkey.
Beyond it, at Manazan, a huge rock pierced with caves on five levels rises up to the left of the road. The site is usually assumed to be that of a monastery although the late poet, John Ash, suggested, plausibly, that it could have served the same sort of defensive function as the underground cities of Cappadocia.
Whatever the truth of the matter, things certainly ended badly for the residents, many of whose mummified remains were found heaped up at the base of a shaft. One is on display in Karaman Museum still wearing the shift she died in.
Transport info
Without your own car you will need to take a taxi from Karaman. Agree a price for the return trip including waiting time at the sights along the way before setting out.
