The Kirmir Valley from Güdül to Beypazarı

Ninety kilometres from Ankara via Ayaş you reach a small town that the Kirmir loops around from the north. Güdül's history goes back to around 3000 BC; the caves in the Kirmir Valley point to a Hittite presence, and the present town is credited to the Seljuk emir Güdül Bey after 1071. At the end of a candidacy that began in 2016 it became Turkey's 18th Cittaslow town and the first in Ankara. The bazaar shows what that means in practice; chickpea roasting and knife making are still working crafts, and the old Güdül houses of the urban conservation area stand around it.

Leave the car in the centre and spend an hour walking the bazaar and the streets of old houses. This is the right place for breakfast and the day's provisions; shops thin out along the rest of the route. Kapama, tirit and höşmerim are the district's known dishes, worth keeping in mind for dinner on the way back. A Cherry Festival is held in June and a Kapama Feast in July; the town fills up on those weekends, so arrive early.

The town sits at 720 metres with a continental climate; winters are hard, summers hot and dry. Besides the Kirmir, two more Sakarya tributaries, the Suvari and İlhan streams, cross the district, and according to the district governorate's page on the Kirmir, ruddy shelducks, greylag geese and several heron species can be seen in the delta area the stream forms. Beypazarı is 33 km from here, Ayaş 32. Leaving town you will see the road branch north towards the İnönü Caves and Yeşilöz; the second and third stops of the day lie along it.

Source: Ankara İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü; Cittaslow Türkiye; Güdül Belediyesi; Güdül Kaymakamlığı.

On the road out of Güdül towards Yeşilöz, just north of the town, turn off to the İnönü locality on the bank of the Kirmir. Across the stream a slope of volcanic tuff rises, and its interior has been hollowed out; rooms stacked in storeys, stairs cut into the rock between them, cross marks at the entrances. According to the sources this was the settlement of a village community in the Byzantine period, and the large central hollow is thought to have been its place of worship. Some sources say the caves were also used in Hittite times; the Güdül district governorate notes a continuity of settlement in the area going back to around 2000 BC. Because the stream has eaten away the foot of the slope over the centuries, the lower rooms have been opened up and the stairs of the upper storeys seem to hang in the air. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism also lists these caves among Ankara's historic surface caves and notes their resemblance to the caves of Ürgüp-Göreme.

The site is a first-degree archaeological and natural conservation area; according to the municipality's guide, endemic plants and species on the IUCN red list also live in the surroundings, and a 3.82-hectare section was declared a Strictly Protected Sensitive Area by presidential decree in 2020. The rock is soft, which made carving easy, but for the same reason it is fragile; do not touch or scratch the walls. The stairs to the upper levels are steep and worn, and there are no railings in many places. Families with children should stay on the lower levels; if you climb, wear shoes with non-slip soles.

There is a picnic area on the bank; it fills with day-trippers from Ankara at weekends and is quiet on weekday mornings. An hour is enough; the real nature break of the day comes at the next stop, 23 km up the road.

Source: Güdül Kaymakamlığı; Güdül Belediyesi; Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı; Kültür Envanteri.

From İnönü you climb through the villages of Yeşilöz and Sorgun; the lake is 23 km from Güdül centre. The road rises into the foothills of the ranges that extend from the Bolu mountains, and steppe gives way to black pine forest. Sorgun Nature Park covers about 54 hectares; the lake bounds it to the north and east, black pine forest to the south and wide meadows to the west. The park is run by the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality and has a control point at the entrance, toilets and a country restaurant. The permitted activities are specific: picnicking, tent and caravan camping, bungalow stays, viewing, walking and running, and plant and bird watching.

This is the longest break of the day; allow at least two hours. You can walk around the lake, and forest trails open onto the highland meadows. Early morning and late afternoon are good for birds, midday for the shade of the pines. It gets crowded on summer weekends and during the school holidays; come on a weekday if you want quiet. According to the regional directorate the park receives visitors all year, but the busy season runs from June to September; in winter reckon with the hard cold and snow of the continental climate.

There is a second way up: leave the Ankara-Istanbul road at the 60th kilometre towards Güdül and come through the villages of Çeltikçi, Kurumcu, Hüyük and Kınık. Since our route arrives from Güdül, you will go back down the same way and continue to Beypazarı. The park lists tent and caravan camping among its permitted activities for those who want to stay; day visitors who leave around two in the afternoon reach Beypazarı before dark.

Source: Tarım ve Orman Bakanlığı 9. Bölge Müdürlüğü; Güdül Kaymakamlığı.

From Güdül to Beypazarı is 33 km. Before entering the town turn towards Karaşar; 3 km north of the centre, at the Rüstempaşa locality, the road enters the İnözü Valley. Here the İnözü stream has cut a narrow, deep gash through a rocky sill; both walls of the valley, at about 700 metres, are sheer rock. Look at the western wall and you will see hollows stacked on each other like the floors of a building. According to the Beypazarı district governorate these are caves opened as dwellings in antiquity; some of the hollows at the foot of the cliff are thought to be early Byzantine tomb monuments and ritual spaces. Most open high up, so climbing is hard and unnecessary; looking from the valley floor is enough. The rock tombs and chambers are protected as an archaeological site, the vineyards and gardens on the floor as a natural site.

The valley is one of Beypazarı's important bird areas. More than fifty species are recorded as breeding here; large birds such as black stork and Egyptian vulture on the cliffs, rock dove and hoopoe lower down. Spring and early summer are the best time for watching; bring binoculars. There are picnic spots among the orchards, poplar groves and vineyards, and families come at weekends.

Walk the valley floor for an hour and turn back; the road goes on to villages, and you do not need to follow it that far. The drive back to the centre on the Karaşar road takes five minutes; the last stop, the bazaar, is walked.

Source: Beypazarı Kaymakamlığı; Beypazarı Belediyesi; Wikipedia.

The route closes in Beypazarı's historic bazaar. The town, Lagania in antiquity, took the name Anastasiopolis after a visit by the Byzantine emperor Anastasius; in the Seljuk period it was an important trading centre on the road between Istanbul and Baghdad. According to the municipality some 3,500 Ottoman-era houses of two or three storeys, roughly two hundred years old, stand around the bazaar, and the historic town was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2020. Alaaddin Street, İmaret Square with its craft shops and the Suluhan caravanserai form the backbone of the bazaar; the silver wirework called telkari and coppersmithing are still practised.

After a day of walking in the valley, ninety minutes here is enough for dinner and a short stroll. The bazaar streets are narrow and made for pedestrians; leave the car outside. If you want to see inside a mansion, the municipality has opened several as museums; check the closed days on its website. The doors, windows and bay windows of the houses are set diagonally so that no house blocks a neighbour's light; look for this as you walk, it is the real refinement of the bazaar quarter. If you want to see the mansions from above, Hıdırlık Hill, laid out by the municipality as a viewing terrace, is a viewpoint reached by a 15-minute walk from the bazaar; it is the highest point of the town and best towards sunset.

We have a separate travel piece describing Beypazarı, its mansions, silver and baklava in detail, so we do not repeat it here. On this route the bazaar is the last link of a day spent between the two towns of the Kirmir. The road back to Ankara is 98 km; do not return via Güdül, the Ayaş road is shorter.

Source: Beypazarı Belediyesi; Wikipedia.