Forgotten slice of olde-worlde Anatolia Population: 17,600
Old names: İskila (Hittite), Blocium, Direklibel
With time on your hands in Çorum in northern Anatolia the best thing to do is hop on one of the half-hourly minibuses heading north-west to İskilip, a pretty little town hidden in a valley amid rocky outcrops, the largest of which forms its centrepiece with a castle perched on its summit. A road runs right up to the castle which, like Çorum’s, was once occupied although now almost all but its most elderly inhabitants have moved out. The views over the rocks and İskilip’s red-tiled rooftops are splendid.
Returning to ground level it’s worth strolling round the base of the rock to find a couple of rock-cut tombs said to date back to Roman times; one comes with bull’s heads capitals on its pillared facade and with angels (or Cupids) flying above them.
Near the tombs you’ll stumble upon İskilip’s lovely old bazaar. Here you can still watch men making saddles, cutting wood for curious tubular beehives, and turning wood for toys, baskets and little rush-covered stools.
The journey out to İskilip is enjoyable in its own right, not least because it passes across a bridge at the point where the Obruk Barajı (dam) has flooded the Kızılırmak river, leaving the stumps of houses and what look like the remains of a castle sticking out of the water.
Sleeping
You’re unlikely to want to stay in İskilip but there’s a great choice of hotels in Çorum.
Transport info
Dolmuşes leave Çorum (56km) bus station roughly every half-hour.
