Yellow, gold, russet, red, crimson, orange and brown. As summer segues seamlessly into autumn, so the woodlands put on one last show-stopping display of finery, flourishing their richest and most memorable hues in a vain last-ditch attempt to keep winter at bay. This should be the signal for leaf-peepers by the coachload to put in an appearance, but instead they’re conspicuous by their absence. Because this is not New England in the fall. Rather, it’s the Turkish Lake District in sonbahar (autumn), a secret known only to the lucky few.
‘I just don’t get it,’ a friend said as we headed towards Lake Eğirdir, the second largest of a group of lakes in Western Anatolia. ‘It reminds me of Queenstown, but there’s nobody here.’ Queenstown, for those who haven’t had the privilege, is a small lakeside town ringed with mountains on the South Island of New Zealand, which has made a name for itself as a centre for adventure holidays. Eğirdir, on the other hand, is a small lakeside town ringed with mountains that has never quite managed to cash in on its location. True, a few fishermen make a supplementary income taking people out in their boats, and, true, the town is well known to hardy outdoor types who trek through on the St Paul’s Trail or come here to scale Mt Sivri (1749m), but that’s about as far as it goes. For most people Eğirdir is a one-night stop-over as they rush between Cappadocia and Pamukkale, or Cappadocia and the coast. They don’t know what they’re missing.
The Yöruk markets
It’s not just the spectacular beauty of the autumnal landscape that makes Eğirdir the place to be in October. This is also the time of year when the abundant apple crop is harvested and huge mounds of fruit pile up by the roadside splashing yet more yellow and red into the scenery.
More importantly, this is also the time of year when an extraordinary market takes place on the outskirts of nearby Pınar Pazarı village. Every year for ten weekends from the end of July to the middle of October local villagers converge on the market to offload their apples and goats, and buy in supplies for the winter. In the past, the last weekend of the ten used to be particularly special because the Saturday would be reserved just for Yörük (nomad) women who would come here to arrange marriages for their children. The next day the sequence of markets would be wound up with an outbreak of celebrations. Even today, that last Sunday is marked by the wholesale slaughter of goats to supply meat for grab-and-go kebabs. It’s a remarkable scene to witness, although not perhaps for the faint of heart.
Yeşilada
Eğirdir itself is a largely modern town with a handful of 13th-century buildings shoehorned onto the median strip facing the bus station. The prettiest part is Yeşilada (Green Island), which is connected to the mainland by a causeway. Unfortunately most of the old houses which pre-dated the Turco-Greek population exchange of 1923 have been pulled down in favour of modern pensions and hotels. The pleasure of a stay here lies not so much in appreciating the architecture as in the joy of being surrounded by water and being able to watch the sun rise and set into the lake.
Barla
For something even more picturesque you could hire a bike and cycle to Barla, a pretty little village of crumbling wooden houses on the western shore of Lake Eğirdir. Most of the houses are empty for much of the year, only springing to life for the three months of summer when villagers who have made new lives elsewhere return to visit their families. There’s little specific to see here, although you can visit a few rooms attached to a gnarled old tree where the religious leader Said Nursi (1878-1960) spent many years thinking and writing. In a sad example of how followers rarely really understand their leaders, his latterday disciples have built a tower-like concrete mescid in the village in supposed memory of their nature-loving master. It’s an absolute eye-sore, especially in such a pretty setting.
The national parks
During the school holidays the Çandır Kanyon, to the south of Eğirdir and otherwise known as the Yazılı Kanyon National Park, is often heaving with picnicking families. Come mid-September, however, and it slumps back into its habitual solitude and makes a great place to come for a quiet stroll amid the pines. There’s not much to do here apart from admire the walls of the gorge and look for elderly inscriptions on the rock which are increasingly overlaid with modern tagging but when you’re through with that you can go for a walk in the lakeside Kovada Gölü National Park or in the Kasnak Forest, both of them readily accessible on day trips.
History in spades
There are plenty of things to see around Eğirdir that you don’t require Olympic levels of fitness to enjoy. You could, for example, take a bus to Yalvaç to explore the ruins of Antioch ad Psidia, one of the towns visited by St Paul in his quest to spread Christianity through Anatolia. Or you could head for Ağlasun to visit Sagalassos, a sprawling Roman ruin with the remains of multiple temples, agoras (market-places) and nymphaea (fountains). Also worth a quick look are the scattered ruins of Adada, another Roman town, half-hidden amongst the trees in the mountains near Sütcüler. Or you could take the bus to Beyşehir where the late 13th-century Eşrefoğlu Cami sits right beside the Lake District’s largest lake, its austere exterior concealing the fact that 42 beautiful wooden pillars still support the roof inside.
Snow time
Can’t get away for the leaf peeping? The good news is that there’s even a ski resort on Mt Davraz near Isparta, the local provincial capital.
Word to the wise
Lakeland weather can be changeable, and strong winds are frequent. Pack plenty of warm clothes!
