Duration
2 days
City
Afyonkarahisar
Best season
April–June, September–October
Average trip budget
Moderate
Difficulty
Easy
Route at a Glance
Two hundred and fifty kilometres west of Cappadocia, carved from the same volcanic tuff, lies a valley system almost nobody visits. Eleven rock monuments strung along a 62-kilometre arc between Afyonkarahisar and Eskişehir.
2-day route•11 stops•Afyonkarahisar
For the Phrygians, Gordion was the political capital — but the Midas City was the kingdom's most important religious centre from the very beginning. That centre still stands today just west of Yazılıkaya village in Eskişehir's Han district, and the road running past it carries almost no visitors. This route begins at the Göynüş Valley in Afyonkarahisar's İhsaniye district and ends at Yazılıkaya, stacking Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman layers one after another. The distances between stops add up to just 62 kilometres; Göynüş and Yazılıkaya are only 25 kilometres apart as the crow flies, with nine separate monuments in between.
Highlights
Aslantaş: two facing lions with cubs beneath their paws and a winged sun disc above the door of a Phrygian royal tomb (7th c. BC)
Aslankaya: a rock face cut into a temple façade, with Cybele standing between two lions
Yazılıkaya: the religious centre of the Phrygians, the Midas City
Döğer Caravanserai: an Ottoman building from the reign of Murad II, in local cut tuff
Eleven monuments along 62 kilometres — without the Cappadocia crowds
Day-by-day plan
2-day route
The numbers show the order of the days, with each day marked in a different colour. Use this route as the starting point for your own plan.
1
Valley of the lions
The first day runs from the rock façades of the Göynüş Valley to Aslankaya on the shore of Lake Emre, and down to the Ottoman caravanserai at Döğer. Roughly 30 kilometres, six stops.
1Göynüş Vadisi
2Aslantaş
3Demirli Kalesi
4Aslankaya
5Emre Tekkesi
6Döğer Kervansarayı
2
Cybele's mountain
The second day runs from the Phrygian settlement at Döğer to Asar Castle on the slopes of Köroğlu Mountain, then through the Kümbet Valley to Yazılıkaya, the religious centre of the Phrygians. Roughly 33 kilometres, five stops.
1Döğer Ören Yeri
2Asar Kalesi
3Kümbet Vadisi
4Yazılıkaya (Midas Kenti)
5Gerdekkaya Mezar Anıtı
Tips
- The route runs largely on village roads — fill up in central Afyonkarahisar.
- Signage is sparse at most monuments; save the coordinates for offline use.
- Turn northwest off the Afyonkarahisar–Eskişehir highway at kilometre 36 for the Göynüş Valley.
- Spending the night in Döğer or İhsaniye makes the second day considerably easier.
- The rock façades lose contrast in midday glare — shoot in the morning or late afternoon.
Bring this route into your own plan
Use Toroti to create a personal plan based on the stops in this trip.