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The Afyon Side of the Phrygian Valley, from Göynüş to Lake Emre
Historical Sites

The Afyon Side of the Phrygian Valley, from Göynüş to Lake Emre

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Mention the Phrygian Valley and most people think of Yazılıkaya in Eskişehir. Yet the monuments the Phrygians carved into rock spread across three provinces, and the southern tip of this wide region lies in the İhsaniye district of Afyonkarahisar.

İhsaniye, Afyonkarahisar
Historical Sites
Radar Editör
October 19, 2026

About Trip

Mention the Phrygian Valley and most people think of Yazılıkaya in Eskişehir. Yet the monuments the Phrygians carved into rock spread across three provinces, and the southern tip of this wide region lies in the İhsaniye district of Afyonkarahisar. The Turkish Wikipedia article on Phrygia notes that this whole area within the borders of Eskişehir, Kütahya and Afyon, which still carries the traces of Phrygian civilisation, is collectively called the Phrygian Valleys. This trip suggests exploring that southern tip in a single day. The two ends of the route are clear: in the west, the Göynüş Valley carved by a stream bed, and in the north, the small Lake Emre beside the town of Döğer. In between lie village roads winding through tuff rocks, fields and Phrygian rock monuments standing only a few kilometres apart.

Rather than introducing the monuments one by one, this piece focuses on reading the landscape and shaping the day. Aslantaş, Yılantaş, Aslankaya and the Döğer Caravanserai are covered separately in Radar's Phrygian route; here the weight falls on the Göynüş Valley itself, on the Maltaş Monument and on the views along the shore of Lake Emre.

Where Highland Phrygia lies

The story of the Phrygians begins far beyond Afyon. According to the Phrygia article, the Phrygians came from the Balkans, settled first in Bithynia and ruled the western part of Central Anatolia between the 12th and 7th centuries BC. Their capital was Gordion and their most brilliant period was in the 9th and 8th centuries BC. The same article explains that Phrygian art carries traces of the Hittite, Urartian, Assyrian and Aegean civilisations, and that the Phrygians decorated their rock monuments with human and animal motifs. Because texts written in the Phrygian script are few and short, the language has still not been fully deciphered.

The Culture Portal places the monuments of İhsaniye in the region of Highland Phrygia. What makes it highland is not high peaks but tuff, the rock formed when the ash of ancient volcanoes hardened. This soft stone was easy to carve, and it was also worn by wind and water into the pointed, pitted, layered rock clusters you see today. Afyonkarahisar Municipality's page on Phrygia says that the rock monuments, tombs and natural formations around İhsaniye and beyond turn the region into an open-air museum; the same page notes that the fairy chimneys seen along the valley have different examples in İhsaniye, İscehisar, Bayat and Bolvadin.

Getting there

To reach the Göynüş Valley you head north from Afyonkarahisar towards Eskişehir. The Afyonkarahisar Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism writes that the valley lies in the Kayıhan neighbourhood of İhsaniye and is reached by turning left at the thirty-second kilometre of the Afyon-Eskişehir highway and driving about one and a half kilometres. The Culture Portal's page on Maltaş says that from the same turn you go west for about two kilometres, and that the valley sits between steep rock blocks reaching five or six metres in height. English Wikipedia gives the site as eleven kilometres east of the town of İhsaniye and thirty kilometres north of Afyonkarahisar, right beside the D-665 highway.

To move on to the Lake Emre side you return to the same highway and continue a little further north. The Culture Portal writes that the caravanserai and Aslankaya at Döğer are reached by turning north-west at the thirty-sixth kilometre of the Afyon-Eskişehir highway and driving about two kilometres. Public transport in the area does not reach the monuments themselves; a private vehicle is needed to plan the day comfortably. Some of the village roads run between fields, so it is wise to download the map in advance and use the roads in daylight.

First steps in the Göynüş Valley

The valley's name appears in two forms in the sources. The Culture Portal gives the spelling Köynüş alongside Göynüş, while the Phrygian Valleys website uses the name Köhnüş and describes the valley as stretching across rugged ground at the southern foot of Türkmen Mountain, surrounded by volcanic tuff rocks. When you enter the valley, the first thing you notice is how these rocks squeeze a stream bed from both sides. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism lists what the valley holds in a single sentence: Göynüş Castle, the tomb chambers with lion reliefs known as Aslantaş and Yılantaş, and the open-air cult site of Maltaş.

Aslantaş and Yılantaş stand very close together. The Culture Portal writes that there are about eighty metres between them, while Maltaş lies roughly five hundred metres from the pair. Before approaching the rocks, stop for a few minutes at the entrance of the valley and look at the terrain. These short distances make it easier to think of the place as a group of monuments belonging to the same setting in the Phrygian period. The eleven-metre rock mass of Aslantaş can be picked out even from a distance; Yılantaş, by contrast, you will find lying as a toppled, broken block. English Wikipedia reports that this destruction most probably came from an earthquake or another natural event.

Maltaş, the monument rescued from the valley

Göynüş's real surprise is in the south-western corner of the valley. The Culture Portal writes that Maltaş stands on the Akkuş Yuvası rocks that bound the valley on the west, and that local people call it Maltaş or Malkaya because they believed treasure was hidden inside it. Together with the other Phrygian rock monuments in the area, it is dated to between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. The first person to study it was W. M. Ramsay in 1881; in the following years researchers from different countries, such as A. Gabriel, E. Haspels and C. Brixhe, also worked on the monument.

The facade you see standing in front of Maltaş is carved into a smoothed face of the rock. The Culture Portal also gives the measurements: the height from the floor of the niche to the top of the roof exceeds eight and a half metres, and the width at the base is about nine metres. The roof is a sloping gabled roof. In the middle of the pediment rises a thick post decorated with lozenge motifs, and the wall surface is covered with repeating geometric patterns. At the centre of the facade opens a square niche measuring two metres by two. Facing door leaves are depicted inside the niche, as if telling you that the doors of the shrine stand open.

Look especially for two details on this facade. The first is the inscriptions. At the top of the frame on the left there is a Phrygian inscription preserved to as many as eleven letters, and on the narrow moulding just below the niche there is another, very faint line. The second is the shaft behind. The Culture Portal explains that more than two and a half metres behind the facade, on the same axis as the niche, there is a shaft more than nine metres deep that narrows from top to bottom, and that it is reached through an opening in the back wall of the niche. The same source notes that this passage was probably broken and widened by treasure hunters.

What sets Maltaş apart is that it lay under the ground for a long time. According to the Culture Portal, alluvium carried by the stream running through the valley covered the front of the monument with fill reaching four and a half metres, and researchers uncovered and reburied it several times. In 2021 a rescue excavation brought the monument fully to light in its present state. During the excavation, architectural wall remains were also found in front of the monument, counted among the few such examples from the Phrygian period. The Phrygian Valleys website writes that the monument was little known beyond local people until recently and has only just been opened to tourism. That is why Maltaş may be the stop that most surprises first-time visitors to the Afyon side.

Towards Lake Emre

After Göynüş, move north to the Döğer side. In this second part the monuments do not stand inside a rocky valley but on an open plain and around the lake. Turkish Wikipedia writes that Aslankaya lies four kilometres from the town of Döğer, near Lake Emre, as part of a tuff outcrop about one kilometre long. The Phrygian Valleys website also explains that the monument can be seen right beside the road as you pass from Üçlerkayası village to Lake Emre, and that the Küçük Kapıkaya monument lies about thirteen hundred metres to its west. The same site stresses that Aslankaya does not stand at the foot of a rocky hill but in an open area, placed like a ceremonial ground among the settlements around it.

The damage you will see along this road is also part of the journey. The Phrygian Valleys website writes that the Büyük Kapıkaya monument near Üçlerkayası was heavily damaged by treasure hunters in 1996 and has therefore lost its value as a sight. The same site states that much of the great damage at Aslankaya was also done with explosives. Reminding readers that no hidden valuables have ever been found in Phrygian monuments, the site describes this destruction simply as harm done to a shared heritage. When standing in front of the monuments, not climbing the rock, not poking into the hollows and reporting any new damage you see to the authorities are the easiest ways to protect this heritage.

The lake itself

According to the lakes page of the Afyonkarahisar Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, Lake Emre is the smallest naturally formed lake in the province, with an area of about five square kilometres. It lies between the town of Döğer and the village of Bayramaliler in İhsaniye. Its water is fresh, and in places its depth exceeds three metres. The same source notes that the lake's area shrinks and expands with the rainy seasons; in other words, the shore you see at the end of summer may differ from the shore in spring.

When you walk down to the lakeshore, the long silhouette of the tuff outcrop stays behind you and a flat sheet of water lies ahead. According to Wikipedia, Döğer is a town where continental farming is practised; poppy, sugar beet, wheat and potatoes are the most widely grown crops. The fields around the lake change colour with the seasons. In the town itself stands the Döğer Caravanserai, built by Murad II in 1434. The Culture Portal writes that the building lies on the border of Afyon, Kütahya and Eskişehir, on an old road; ending the day looking at the long stone facade of the caravanserai offers a passage from the Phrygian age to the Ottoman roads.

A walking suggestion

Split the day into two parts. Give the morning to the Göynüş Valley: leave the car at the entrance of the valley and walk the short distance between Aslantaş and Yılantaş, then continue towards the south-western corner of the valley and Maltaş. The ground is not flat; the area around the stream bed is stony and grassy, so shoes that support the ankle are a good idea. In the afternoon, move north to the Döğer side. See Aslankaya from the roadside and go down to the lakeshore, then return to the town and close the day in front of the caravanserai.

The Phrygian Valleys website writes that traces of settlement in the Göynüş Valley lie in every direction, but because there is no road between the fields, only one direction can be explored comfortably. This note matters: do not leave the clear path to the monuments and do not walk into cultivated fields. If you want to see other points deeper in the valley, consult the local authorities first.

Season and time of day

The region is under the influence of the inland Anatolian climate; on summer afternoons there is almost no shade on the open ground. Spring and autumn are better suited both to walking and to photography. The reliefs and inscriptions on the rock facades are easier to make out in low, raking light; the faint line of inscription at Maltaş and the worn lion figures at Aslantaş look clearer early or late in the day. The Phrygian Valleys website also reports that the illegible inscriptions at Aslankaya were revealed thanks to photographs taken with a special technique just after sunrise. In winter, snow and mud can make the village roads difficult.

Practical notes

  • The monuments stand on open ground; check the current visiting conditions and any excavation work with the Afyonkarahisar Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism.
  • Bring water and snacks; do not expect any facilities in the valley.
  • Do not climb the rocks or go inside the hollows; tuff breaks easily.
  • Respect the land of local people on the lakeshore and in the fields.
  • Ayazini and Avdalaz Castle lie in the same district and can be planned as a separate trip on another day.

Sources

Location - The Afyon Side of the Phrygian Valley, from Göynüş to Lake Emre

Trip Info
Cityİhsaniye, Afyonkarahisar
TypeHistorical Sites
DateOctober 19, 2026
SourceRadar Editör
Radar TürkiyeAuthorRadar TürkiyeVisit SourceGet Directions