Escape the Crowds

Seyitgazi and Midas City: a Phrygian Valley day

A hilltop Seljuk shrine to a legendary warrior, then a seventeen-metre temple façade the Phrygians carved into a cliff for their mother goddess.

Free-isha full daya dry spring or autumn day; avoid deep winter on the plateau roads

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Why do it?

Drive south out of the city and the steppe turns into the volcanic tuff country the Phrygians settled nearly three thousand years ago. About forty-five kilometres out, Seyitgazi's hillside complex was founded in 1207–08 by Ümmühan Hatun, mother of the Seljuk sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I, around the tomb of Seyyid Battal Gazi — an eighth-century Arab warrior killed fighting Byzantium who became the hero of Turkish epic tales; it later became a Bektashi lodge and was enlarged under Bayezid II. Further south, in Yazılıkaya village in the Han district, is Midas City and its Midas Monument: a seventeen-metre façade cut into the rock, with a niche for a statue of the mother goddess Cybele and a Phrygian inscription naming Midas. It is a temple front, not a tomb; scholars date it anywhere from the eighth to the sixth century BC. Turkey added 'Mountainous Phrygia' to its UNESCO tentative list in 2015, and Anadolu University resumed excavations at the site in 2022.

The Smileys Take

This needs a car — share one between four and make a day of it: Seyitgazi in the morning, a village lunch, then the afternoon at Midas City, where the low sun brings out the carved patterns on the façade. Walk up past the monument onto the plateau behind it for the rock-cut remains and the view; the waymarked Phrygian Way hiking routes all end here, if you get hooked. Dress modestly at Seyitgazi — it is a working shrine and pilgrims visit. There is little shade and few facilities at Midas City, so bring water and food, and check road conditions in winter. Ask in the group: someone usually has a car and a free Saturday.