Safranbolu
The City of Safranbolu is an example of a typical Ottoman trade town. It has played a key role in the caravan trade on the main route between Europe and the Orient.
The Old Town preserves many old buildings, with 1008 registered historical artifacts. These are: 1 private museum, 25 mosques, 5 tombs, 8 historical fountains, 5 Turkish baths, 3 caravanserais, 1 historical clock tower, 1 sundial and hundreds of houses and mansions. Also there are mounds of ancient settlements, rock tombs and historical bridges. The Old Town is situated in a deep ravine in a fairly dry area in the rain shadow of the mountains.
The name of the town derives from saffron, since Safranbolu was a trading place and a center for growing saffron.
Map of Safranbolu
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Peter Day
August 2008. Safranbolu is a lovely old town stuffed with the beautiful wood frame houses built by the merchants. Some of these are open as museum houses, others have been turned into guest houses - some well, others not. Very relaxing to wander round the narrow lanes of the old town, scramble up to the castle and clock tower for a panoramic view, take a tour of some surrounding areas to take in the caves, the ancient aquaduct. Doesn't feel over-run by tourists.
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Site Info
- Full Name
- City of Safranbolu
- Unesco ID
- 614
- Country
- Turkey
- Inscribed
- 1994
- Type
- Cultural
- Criteria
-
2 4 5
- Categories
- Urban landscape - Arabic and Middle Eastern
- Link
- By ID
Site History
1994 Inscribed
1992 Deferred
More Info on boundaries
Site Links
Unesco Website
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Visitors
68 Community Members have visited.