Egirdir
The Fourth Largest Lake In Turkiye, With A Seljuk Castle On The Town Peninsula And The Former Greek Fishing Island Of Yesilada Joined By A Causeway · Egirdir, Isparta
Egirdir sits where a Seljuk castle guards the neck of a peninsula sticking out into the fourth largest lake in Turkiye, with the Taurus foothills rising behind and a long causeway running out to Yesilada - Green Island - which was a Greek fishing village until 1923 and is now a single street of guesthouses and fish restaurants surrounded by water on all sides. That island is the reason to stop rather than drive past: you eat lake fish looking at mountains, and in the morning the water is flat and the light comes over the ridge. It is also a walkers' town, being the natural base for the St Paul Trail into the Taurus. The honest caveat is the lake itself, whose level has fallen noticeably over recent years with irrigation and drought, leaving jetties short of the water and shorelines that do not match older photographs. Stay on the island rather than in the town; that is where the place works.
Yesilada Mahallesi, Egirdir, Isparta, Egirdir, Isparta, Turkiye
The town, the causeway and the island are open at all hours. The castle remains are open ground. Guesthouses on Yesilada run mainly from about April to October with a few open year round; boats and swimming are a summer business. The St Paul Trail walking season is spring and autumn. Winter is cold, quiet and much reduced.