As an #Ealing girl, thrilled to learn that pair of beavers will be introduced to the borough. Let's hope the projec… https://t.co/iGvLcOaQzl
BOR
Population: 40,000
Old name: Poros
Market day: Tuesday
Southwest of Niğde is Bor, a pretty, leafy small town whose marketplace stands over what was once the site of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Five Martyrs, demolished in 1835. Its place was taken by the Church of St George which still survives, albeit locked against visitors, not far from the main mosque.
Around town
Buses from Niğde will drop you in the Çarşı area where most of the more interesting buidlings can be found.
At once you'll see a fine reconstructed Ottoman house that now serves as a library overlooking a small park commemorating the town's twinning arrangement with Gostivar in Macedonia.
Opposite the park stands a 16th-century hamam with separate sections for men and women. Just up the road is the mosque to which it was presumably once attached. The big Sokullu Mehmed Paşa Cami was originally built in 1573 although the current model appears to be much later in date. Certainly, its interior decoration is more baroque than early Ottoman.
The mosque was built above the bedesten, or covered market, from which it would have drawn rents. This is still in use as a covered market today.
If you strike out into the back streets you will come across some fine old Ottoman housing in the usual state of disarray. You may also come across the Sultan Alaettin Cami, originally Selçuk but rebuilt under the Karamanoğlus in 1410. The mosque is kept locked outside prayer times but if you peer through the windows you will see that its columns have been made from hewn tree trunks, making it one of a group of "forest mosques" with others in Afyon, Beyşehir and Ankara.
Beautifully positioned on a ledge above the central Yeşildere (Green Valley), the Şeyh-İlyas (Kale) Cami dates back to 1530. It's a pretty small mosque with a dome, a triple-arched portico and a single minaret but it too is kept locked except during prayer times. 
Sleeping
Accommodation options in Bor are less flashy that in Niğde although you could probably spend a perfectly pleasant night here.
Hotel Tyana. Tel: 0388-311 1971
Transport info
Buses connect Niğde and Bor roughly every 10 minutes, making this a very easy excursion. Buses to Kemerhisar also pass through, and you can easily take a taxi ride to Bahçeli and back.
Day trip destinations