With its beautiful 200-year-old houses, interesting local dress and inviting weekend market, Beypazarı is an extraordinary place which deserves to be much better known. It is also the carrot capital of Turkey, where a surprising number of things come with an orange tinge!
As recently as 10 years ago, Beypazarı was virtually forgotten, a small town just one hour’s drive out of Ankara, but a world away from it in atmosphere. Then, under an imaginative local administration, the old town center was revived. Many of the lovely old Ottoman houses were restored, and some of them were turned into hotels and restaurants. Old handicrafts, such as cloth-weaving, were given a higher profile, and a determined effort was made to publicize what the town had to offer. The result was astonishing. These days, Beypazarı is a thriving small town, best visited on the weekend, when there is a lively street market. To date, almost 400 houses have been restored, and many more are on their way to recovery. One is open to the public as a small museum offering an opportunity to see the lavish interior fittings and the curious bathrooms tucked away inside cupboards.
Lords of the Bazaar
Like most Anatolian towns, Beypazarı has a very long history. Its ancient name was Logania, and remains from the Hittite, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods have been found in and around town. At one time, it was governed by the Germiyanoğlus, who also ruled nearby Kütahya in the period following the collapse of the Seljuk Empire. Villagers used to come into town from the surrounding area to sell their goods in the bazaar, hence the name Beypazarı which means “the Lord of the Bazaars”!
Even today, the bazaar is well worth a few hours of anybody’s time. Small shops line narrow, vine-draped streets, where blacksmiths, and an excess number of quiltmakers live peacefully in the past. They will be quick to say “hoş geldiniz” (welcome) and offer you a glass of çay (tea). Life for them is tranquil, unpretentious, and seemingly happy.
On weekends the bazaar spills out into Alaeddin Sokağı, the main street, where women set up stalls and sell herbs such as blackthorn and basil, alongside bottled carrot juice, and carrot flavored lokum (Turkish delight), a testament to Beypazarı’s role as carrot capital of Turkey. Many of them wear colorful printed shawls that cover their head and shoulders but which also make excellent tablecloths !
Follow
I run the World Carrot Museum and wish to visit Beypazarı when it celebrates its carrot festival.
Does anyone know if there is an accommodation guide and travel site I could contact?
Beypazarı really a beautiful town. Beypazarı this year to the township, I am thinking of going.