Selçuk summer palace on the lakeshore
Back in the 13th century the great Selçuk Sultan Alaadin Keykubad I (1220-37) decided to build a summer palace on the western shores of Lake Beyşehir where he would be able to escape the heat of Konya, his capital on the Anatolian plain. Today its ruins stand in splendid isolation on the lakeshore just beyond the sleepy small village of Gölyaka. To get there you drive from Beyşehir through Yeşildağ, Kurucuova and Gölkonak, all of them worth a quick look for their old stone houses with pretty jutting cumbas (bay windows).
To judge from the fine tiles depicting both animals and people that are now housed in Konya’s Karatay Museum, the palace must once have been magnificently decorated. Today, though, there is little beyond crumbling walls to show for what was once there. Signboards distinguish a Kücük Saray (Little Palace) and Büyük Palace (Great Palace) and imply that the former was probably once a collection of kiosks rather like Topkapı Palace while the latter was more like a caravanserai. There’s no other labelling, however, so you will have little but your imagination to fill in the gaps.
Roman gravestone reused as masonry
No matter. The scenery is so sublime that you won’t mind about the lack of information. In front of you spreads the lake and the reedbeds backed by distant mountains that stay snow-covered into May. Beyond you soars Aramaz Dağı, an impressive mountain that also holds onto its snow well into the summer.
The ruins of the harem (family) section of the palace are scattered on Kızkalesi Adası, an island which also has remains of a fortress. This is a great place for birdwatching.
The palace appears to have continued in use during the period of the Mongol invasion and through into the 14th century. Its location was only rediscovered in 1949 and excavated in the 1960s which is when the ugly Kazı Evi (Excavations House) was probably built above the ruins.
What the palace may have looked likedThe journey round the western shore of the lake was blissfully quiet and passesd through peaceful rustic scenery with little bar the cattle and goats to disturb the silence. However, the road was being widened in spring 2013 which suggested that the local authorities hoped to attract more visitors and more development. From Gölyaka itself they have laid a dreadful cobbled road to the ruins which makes for a very slow and bumpy ride. Once there there’s only a small parking space and then the ruins.
Few other visitors…
Transport info
Without your own car you can only get a minibus from Beyşehir as far as Kurucuova – and that seems to leave very erratically from the lakeshore opposite the elderly Çankaya Pension. There are no official taxis in Kucuruova although you might have more luck finding one in Yeşildağ.
Taxi drivers in Beyşehir will ask a lot of money to take you to the ruins. You should be able to barter them down a bit but the trip won’t be cheap.
Nearby areas
Read more: The Selçuks Were Here
