Highlands and forests of Turkey
Highlands & Forests: 24 places from 18 provinces of Turkey. Each has a model-like miniature, a short story and a Numa Made ring on the Isometric Turkey map.
Belgrad Forest
Istanbul · Highlands & Forests
“To live like a tree, alone and free, / and like a forest, in brotherhood…” says Nâzım Hikmet. Walking in Belgrad Forest, north of Istanbul, where the city’s noise reaches you only as a…
See on the map →Polonezköy
Istanbul · Highlands & Forests
It is said that at the official ceremonies where foreign envoys were received at the Ottoman court, one name was read out every time: “The envoy of Lehistan!” And every time, the same reply…
See on the map →Aydos Forest
Istanbul · Highlands & Forests
Ask where the highest point in Istanbul is, and many will say Çamlıca. Yet the city’s true rooftop is Aydos Hill, rising quietly among the forests on the Anatolian side: a full 537 meters…
See on the map →Acarlar Floodplain Forest
Would you believe someone who told you a forest could live with its feet in the water and its head in the sun? Trees put down roots in the soil, and water comes and goes; that is what we…
See on the map →Yamanlar & Karagöl
To stay thirsty and hungry forever, in a place where water and fruit are right under your nose… You know one of the harshest punishments in mythology: the punishment of Tantalus. This king…
See on the map →Domaniç
Have you ever wondered where a world empire spent its summers? It is told that when Ertuğrul Gazi and his clan came to these lands, they were given Söğüt as their winter quarters and…
See on the map →Zorkun Plateau
Osmaniye · Highlands & Forests
Spend just one day in Çukurova in July and you will understand at once why “yayla”, the high summer pasture, is spoken in these lands like a word of deliverance… So what is the quickest…
See on the map →Kızılcahamam & Soğuksu
“Water flows, the Turk watches,” our ancestors say. Visitors to Kızılcahamam tweak the saying a little: here water doesn’t just flow, it wells up warm from the earth; and those who watch…
See on the map →Yozgat Pine Grove
A pine forest in the middle of the steppe… Among yellow plains, bare hills and wheat fields stretching as far as the eye can see, a lush green cover suddenly appears before you. So where…
See on the map →Yapraklı Plateau
When summer comes to Anatolia, a bustle begins: the move up to the yayla, the summer pastures… Families who spend the winter on the plain, in the village, climb to high ground in search of…
See on the map →Yenice Forests & Şeker Canyon
We read a tree’s age in the rings of its trunk; but what measures the age of a forest? Those who enter the forests of Yenice look for the answer in the moss beneath their feet, in the…
See on the map →Mount Nebiyan
When summer comes to the Black Sea, a migration begins. Escaping the hot, humid coast, people climb with provisions in hand and animals at their side, up to the high pastures, the yaylas…
See on the map →Perşembe Plateau
Why doesn’t a stream flow in a straight line? When it could shorten its way, why does it bend this way and that, wander about, and curl back again as if it wanted to return to where it came…
See on the map →Çambaşı Plateau
When winter comes, the Black Sea yaylas sink into silence. The meadows that brimmed all summer with the kemençe, the horon and smoking chimneys are blanketed in snow; the villagers go back…
See on the map →Kümbet & Bektaş Plateaus
In midsummer the roads climbing from Giresun into the mountains suddenly fill up. Cauldrons, quilts and kemençes in the car trunks; folk songs spilling from the windows; greetings from…
See on the map →Hıdırnebi Plateau
It is said that Hızır drank the water of life, gained immortality, and comes to the aid of all in need. Hıdrellez, which heralds the coming of spring, goes back to the day he met İlyas; on…
See on the map →Kadıralak Plateau
“My head foaming clouds, sea inside me and out, / I am a walnut tree in Gülhane Park…” says Nâzım Hikmet. The poet stood in a park in Istanbul; but had he recited these lines on the yaylas…
See on the map →Ayder Plateau
First you hear a tulum, the Black Sea bagpipe; sharp, cheerful, a little wild… Then comes the sound of water: a waterfall spilling down the slope, streams crashing from stone to stone. At…
See on the map →Pokut & Sal Plateaus
Would you build a house to live in for only three or four months of the year? The yayla people of the Black Sea would; and have done for centuries… The houses of Pokut Plateau, standing on…
See on the map →Anzer Plateau
“Saying ‘honey, honey’ won’t sweeten your mouth,” our ancestors say. True enough; but when certain places are named, a sweetness really does come to the tip of the tongue. Anzer is one of…
See on the map →Macahel
Would you lock up a valley to protect a line of bees? In Macahel they have, and with not a hint of jest… In this forested valley leaning against the Georgian border, no bees may be brought…
See on the map →Korhan Plateau
Which season do you wait for to go up to a highland pasture? In the East there is only one answer: that short summer when the snow retreats from the mountain and the grass turns green…
See on the map →Sarıkamış & Cıbıltepe
“Do not pass by, calling the ground you tread mere earth; know it: / Think of the thousands lying shroudless beneath.” These lines of the İstiklal Marşı, the Turkish national anthem…
See on the map →Mergan Plateau
Would you like to feel cold in July? Then you must climb up to Mergan Plateau. At the foot of Cilo, at two thousand five hundred meters, this broad highland pasture has a coolness that sets…
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