“The Milkmen” Population: 2,500
High in the hills above Eğirdir in the Turkish Lake District Sütçüler is the sort of place you come to anticipating rural beauty only to be confronted with a disappointing vista of concrete high-rises. Still, it offers accommodation for those intent on hiking the waymarked St Paul’s Trail and infrequent buses from Eğirdir to Sütçüler do pass within walking distance of the ruins of Adada.
As for the town’s curious name, I’m indebted to the İstanbulEats website (https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/istanbul/2015/the-salepci-of-sutculer/) for the backstory. Apparently in the 1930s the men of Sütçüler regularly travelled to İstanbul to act as the city’s milkmen, hence the decision made in 1938 to commemorate their toils in its name. Nowadays when most people get their milk from the supermarkets the men of Sütçüler are the ones to be seen pushing handcarts of sahlep around İstanbul in winter, a hard and largely thankless task.
Sleeping
Otel Karacan. Tel: 0246-351 2411
Transport info
Daily buses link Eğirdir with Sütçüler passing by Adada.
