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Egirdir is a fine place
to rest if you're traveling between
the Aegean
coast (or Pamukkale)
and Konya or Antalya.
From the small lakeside town of Egirdir
(eh-YEER-deer), a causeway extends
into the placid blue lake waters to
connect two small islands to the mainland.
Comfy, inexpensive little pensions dot
the islands, hosting travelers for
a night or two as they laze away the
stress of travel and sample the local
fresh-water fish.
Besides swimming, boating and
a hike up the slopes
of neighboring Davras Dagi (2635
meters, 8645 feet), there's little
to do in Egirdir (pop.
18,000)—which is just the point.
A crumbling fortress with foundations
from 400 BC provides visual charm.
Although the town's Mosque of Hizir
Bey (1237, 1308) and Dündar
Bey Medresesi (seminary; 1218,
1285) date from the great age of Seljuk
Turkish architecture, they were
works more of the local Hamidogullari
emirs rather than the great Seljuk sultans.
The only other feature of note is
the Turkish army's commando base on
the western outskirts. You may forget
it's there unless you wander through
town on the commandos' day off when
you're sure to notice their blue berets
everywhere.
Bus is
the best way to get here. You may have
to change buses at nearby Isparta,
from which minibuses run
to Egirdir about every 15 minutes.
The rail line to Isparta no longer
has passenger service, so the minibus
is the way to go. Airports with
frequent flights are at Antalya and Konya.
Egirdir oddity: the town's
name used to be Egridir (eh-REE-deer),
a Turkish adaptation of its old Hellenic
name Akrotiri. But Egridir means "crooked" or "wrong" in
Turkish, so in the 1980s the town transposed
two letters in its name and made it Egirdir, which
has meanings associated with spinning,
with flowers, and with bee propolis—all
good things!
Distances & Travel Times
Afyon: 138
km (86 miles) N, 2.5 hours
Antalya: 186
km (116 miles) S, 3 hours
Beysehir: 141
km (88 miles) E, 2.5 hours
Cappadocia
(Urgup): 706 km (439 miles)
E, 11 hours
Isparta: 36 km (22 miles) W,
40 minutes
Istanbul: 638
km (396 miles) N, 11 hours
Izmir: 418
km (260 miles) W, 7 hours
Konya: 236
km (147 miles) E, 4 hours
Kusadasi: 390
km (242 miles) W, 7 hours
Pamukkale: 225
km (140 miles) W, 3.5 hours
Selçuk: 387
km (241 miles) W, 6.75 hours
Aegean
Region
Central
Anatolian Region
Mediterranean
Region
Where
to Go
Turkey
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