Afyon Castle

How does a city forget the color in its own name? For centuries this city was known as Karahisar, the “black castle”, after the dark rock that rises abruptly from the middle of the plain. Then a word was added in front of its name, taken from the poppies grown in the surrounding fields: Afyon, “opium”. Today most of us simply call the city Afyon and leave it at that; the black castle has been left in the shadow of its own name…