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The first stop on our UNESCO hopping was Safranbolu, where we wandered among the Ottoman era buildings that have been preserved in the old market area of the city. One of the things that was really nice was that the historic area is separated from the new part of town, and in its own little valley. Apart from the modern apartment blocks on the ridgeline and the occasional communications tower on a peak, all you saw were old houses, or new ones that are designed to fit in. We stayed in a beautiful building that had some of the features we saw in other buildings. The exterior is usually covered in white plaster but the interior is all wooden – the floors, ceilings and cupboards that cover the walls. Around the walls there is a narrow seating area and the rooms are designed to be multipurpose. During the day they are set up for general living and in the evening bedding is brought out of the cupboards in the wall. Another space-saving device which was a little odd was a bath in the cupboard. We’re still not really sure how this worked but essentially a small trapdoor in the raised floor of the cupboard opened and people would wash there. When they were finished the trapdoor would be closed and the cupboard would be used for storage. We’re not sure how drainage worked; we had a normal bathroom in our room.

Wandering around the streets was really cool, many of them are too narrow for car traffic and even the ones that are one car wide were pretty much only pedestrian. Many of the buildings now house shops in the bottom floor selling tourist tat, halva and Turkish delight. Everything seems to be saffron infused, as it was the growing and trading of this spice that gave the town its wealth and its name, though I can’t recommend saffron tea. We visited another caravanserai, built to give shelter to traders’ caravans and now continuing that function as a hotel. A little out of town another hotel had restored a building with a feature not often seen, an indoor pool in the reception room. It wasn’t designed for swimming, but instead cooled the room and the running water provided a pleasant background sound for socialising. I was happy enough with overhanging second floors jutting out at odd angles, all these special features made the town’s buildings even cooler! Up in the clock tower we talked to the man who has been in charge of winding up the town’s clock for the past 45 years! Since he was 22 in 1965 he has made sure the counterweights don’t hit the floor. I can’t imagine the council being able to find a replacement when he retires.

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Tags: Ankara, Hattusa, Hattusha, Hittite, Safranbolu, UNESCO, Yazilikaya