Highlights Around Egirdir, Isparta,Lake District, Turkey,Europe
BARLA
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It is a local village 25 km north of Egirdir on the west side of the
lake.
The village of Barla is nestled in a steep valley, dominated by a dramatic
lime-stone spur which plunges down from the Barla massif. Until 1923
the village used to be inhabited by a fifty-fifty mix of Turks and Greeks
and many of the now sadly neglected brick and timber houses that line
the streets were built prior to this date. Orchards of walnut, cherry
and apricot trees compliment the melancholic charm of the houses, as
do the numerous village springs, twisting cobbled lanes and minarets.
Seldom visited by foreigners, and inhabited by religiously conservative
but friendly locals. Barla is worth a look, though there’s little
to do but wander and savour the rustic atmosphere which permeates life
there.
Barla was home to many a Greek during the Ottoman period time till 1924
it was a typical Greek village on the side of the river. You can see
the interesting old wooden houses are still visible and ruins of an
Orthodox Church. (Ask to see some photos from us).p
Perched above the village stand the substantial remains of the 19th – century church of Ayois Georgios, with a Greek inscription above the doorway. Higher still lay the Roman colony of Parlais. A massive defensive wall can still be traced and a single rock cut tomb pierces the rocky ridge above the ruins.
Lower down in the village a spreading plane tree shades a house once occupied by Sait Nursi, an Islamic revivalist of Kurdish origin whose ideas brought him into collision with the staunchly secularist republican regime. Exiled here for some time in the 1920’s, after his death the paranoiac authorities secretly reburied his body to avoid becoming a focus for veneration. Though this didn’t have the desired result as Nursi’s former home is now a shrine for his numerous adherents (the Nurculuk or ‘followers of light’).
Getting there
There are no buses or dolmus to barla, so without your own transport
your options are limited to hiring a taxi from Egirdir. Alternatively,
it’s a lovely, mildly strenuous bicycle ride, easily possible
in a day if you want to stop at Bedres beach along the way.
Isparta - Akpinar - Cave of Zindan - Pinar Gozu Cave - Kovada Lake - Candir Canyon - Unkown Valley - Kasnak Forest - Adada Ruins – Sagalassos - Yalvac (Pisidia Antiochia) - Barla