Things to Do in Kirsehir: 11 Stops from Cacabey to Kaman Kalehoyuk

What Kirsehir actually looks like

Kirsehir sits halfway between Ankara and Cappadocia, and most travellers know it as the place where they stop for fuel. The city does little to argue with that. The centre is small, the boulevards are wide, and the steppe presses in from every direction. Underneath the flatness there is a dense thirteenth-century layer: a Seljuk provincial seat, the birthplace of the Ahi craft brotherhood, the burial place of one of the first poets to write serious literature in Turkish.

The other thing to know is the music. Kirsehir is the centre of the abdal tradition, the bozlak is sung here, and both Muharrem Ertas and Neset Ertas came from this province. For many visitors that matters more than any stone building, though it does not keep opening hours.

There are 11 numbered stops below and the numbers match the pins on the map. Opening hours and site access change often, so confirm with the museum directorate, the district governorship or the municipality first.

Quick answer

Half a day on foot covers central Kirsehir; the real time goes to the rural stops.

• The four central stops (Cacabey, Ahi Evran, the museum and Asik Pasa) are within walking distance of each other.
• The Kaman Kalehoyuk museum and Japanese garden are about 55 km away; give them half a day.
• Water levels at Seyfe Lake vary hugely from year to year, so birds are never guaranteed.

Things to do in Kirsehir

1. Cacabey Madrasa

The building on the main square was commissioned in 1272 by Nureddin Cibril bin Cacabey, then governor of Kirsehir. It is a Seljuk madrasa with a covered courtyard: an opening at the top of the dome, and a deep well in the floor below it. The popular story treats this as an observation device, with stars watched in daylight from the bottom of the well. Historians disagree, though there is broad agreement that astronomy was taught here.

The building later became a mosque and is still used as one. From outside, the details that hold your eye are the turquoise tile on the minaret and the carving on the portal; inside it is smaller than you expect. With other Anatolian Seljuk madrasas it joined the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2014.

• Getting there: On Cacabey Square, walkable from anywhere downtown.
• Time: 20 to 30 minutes.
• Common mistake: Arriving during prayer. Come outside prayer times; shoes off, modest dress.

2. Ahi Evran Tomb and complex

Ahi Evran led the Ahi brotherhood, the thirteenth-century organisation of craftsmen and tradesmen in Anatolia, and he is regarded as the patron of tanners. The tomb, the mosque beside it and the surrounding workshops form one complex, and this is the identity the city presents to the outside world. Ahilik Week is held here every autumn on dates that shift, so check the official announcement.

This is not a managed tourist site. It is a working mosque and a grave people come to visit, busy on Fridays and at prayer times. The bazaar around it still has leatherworkers, coppersmiths and saddlers at work, and that is the more interesting half of the stop. The Melik Gazi tomb tower stands a few hundred metres southeast.

• Getting there: About five minutes on foot from Cacabey Square.
• Time: 30 to 45 minutes, longer with the bazaar.
• Common mistake: Seeing the tomb and leaving. The Ahi tradition makes sense in the workshops.

3. Kirsehir Museum

The provincial museum sits beside the Ahi Evran complex and is the fastest way to see the whole span of the region's past. The archaeology rooms hold material from Kaman Kalehoyuk and the mounds nearby, Hittite and Phrygian pieces, and finds from the Roman and Byzantine layers. The ethnography section covers the Ahi guild tradition through documents, tanning tools and local weaving.

It is small and an hour is plenty. Going in before you drive out to Kaman still pays off, because this is where you work out why the province is covered in mounds and which periods they belong to. More than a hundred are recorded here, most of them unmarked in the middle of fields.

• Getting there: Same corner as the Ahi Evran complex.
• Time: 45 minutes to an hour.
• Tickets and hours: Confirm with the museum directorate; there is usually a weekly closing day.

4. Asik Pasa Tomb

Asik Pasa died in 1332 and was among the first writers in Anatolia to argue that Turkish belonged in literature. The Garibname, finished in 1330, holds its place in the history of the language because he chose Turkish over Persian and Arabic when that was not the obvious decision. His tomb stands on the slope east of the centre, above the old cemetery.

The building shows the transition out of Seljuk architecture: a tall portal, muqarnas carving, an otherwise plain mass. The cemetery keeps it quiet and the view back over the city is worth the climb. His mother and son are buried on the same ground. You can walk from the centre, but it is uphill and hard going at midday.

• Getting there: East of the centre towards Asikpasa neighbourhood; 20 to 25 minutes on foot.
• Time: 20 to 30 minutes.
• Common mistake: Confusing the tomb with the Asik Pasa Mosque. The tomb is inside the cemetery.

5. Neset Ertas Culture and Arts Centre

Neset Ertas was born in 1938 in the village of Kirtillar near Cicekdagi, into a family from the abdal tradition; his father Muharrem Ertas was a major name in the same line. Between them, the bozlak, the three-stringed baglama and the abdal music of Kirsehir reached a national audience. UNESCO named him a Living Human Treasure in 2010, and he died in 2012.

The centre in the south of the city is the space given over to that legacy, with concerts, exhibitions and events. The programme is irregular and the building is not open every day, so check with the municipality or the provincial culture directorate first. Catch something and it is the liveliest thing in Kirsehir.

• Getting there: South of the centre, a short drive or a 20-minute walk.
• Time: An evening if there is an event, otherwise 30 minutes.
• Common mistake: Treating it as a permanently open museum. It is an events venue.

6. Kaman Kalehoyuk Archaeological Museum and Japanese garden

This museum in Kaman district opened in 2010 to present the excavations run by the Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology. The layout is chronological, from the Chalcolithic through the Bronze Age and the era of Hittite rule and Assyrian trading colonies, then into the Iron Age. The finds are not showy, but few places set out five thousand years from one mound this clearly.

The Japanese garden next door is the second half of the visit, with a pond, a bridge and a tea house in open steppe; it looks best in spring and autumn. The mound itself lies two and a half kilometres north, dug since 1986, but outside the season you find covered trenches and no walls.

• Getting there: About 55 km from Kirsehir towards Kaman, then the turning for Kalekoy.
• Time: 1.5 to 2 hours for museum and garden.
• Tickets and hours: Ask the museum directorate for current hours; winter differs.

7. Hirfanli Dam and reservoir

Completed on the Kizilirmak at the end of the 1950s, this is one of the larger reservoirs in Turkey. The dam wall sits on the Kirsehir and Ankara provincial boundary, and the Kirsehir shore is reached from the Hirfanlar side of Kaman district. The lake is wide, splits into arms and puts an unexpected sheet of water in the middle of the steppe.

People come for the view and the fishing, and locals drive down at weekends to picnic and cast a line. Do not expect a developed facility, marked trails or shade; some access roads are unsurfaced. The wind can be strong and winter road conditions vary. There are no bins on the shore, so take back what you bring.

• Getting there: About 85 km west of Kirsehir via Kaman.
• Time: Half a day including the drive.
• Common mistake: Approaching the dam wall and power station. That is a restricted area.

8. Seyfe Lake

This shallow lake in Mucur district lies in a closed basin and its water is salty and alkaline. In 1994 it was designated a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar convention. In good years flamingos, ruddy shelducks, geese and many migrating waterbirds gather here, and it is the best-known birding address in the province. A mound on the northern shore shows how long the basin has been used.

Be realistic, though. Water levels have dropped badly, and in dry spells most of the lake becomes a salt flat while the birds move on. There is no visitor centre, no hide and no marked path. April and May give the best odds. Bring binoculars, and think about footwear, because the margin is muddy and salty.

• Getting there: About 35 km from Kirsehir towards Mucur, to the northern shore.
• Time: 1 to 2 hours, longer if the birds are in.
• Common mistake: Setting off without checking the water. Two hours at a dry lake pleases nobody.

9. Mucur underground city

Cut into soft tuff beneath the centre of Mucur, this is an underground settlement of corridors, rooms, ventilation shafts and rolling stone doors. It belongs to the same tradition as the better-known examples in Cappadocia, which makes sense, since Mucur is on the Cappadocian edge of the province. Part of it is open to visitors.

Be clear about scale. This is nothing like Derinkuyu or Kaymakli. The accessible section is limited, ceilings are low, and some passages mean walking bent over, so factor that in if tight spaces bother you. It stays cool inside, sometimes ten degrees below the street in summer, and the lighting is weak enough that a phone torch helps.

• Getting there: About 25 km southeast of Kirsehir, in the middle of Mucur town.
• Time: 30 to 45 minutes.
• Common mistake: Assuming it will be open. Visiting hours are irregular, so ask first.

10. Kesikkopru bridge and caravanserai

The stone bridge over the Kizilirmak and the caravanserai beside it were part of the Seljuk road between Kirsehir and Aksaray. The caravanserai dates to the middle of the thirteenth century and shows the standard han plan, with a cut-stone facade, a carved portal and a courtyard behind. The bridge takes its name from the way it sits in the riverbed.

The site is south of the city on a quiet stretch of river, and the caravanserai has been repaired. You come here the way you stop on a drive rather than the way you visit a museum, and half an hour by the water is a good use of it. It falls on the route towards Aksaray and Cappadocia. There are no facilities, so bring food and drink.

• Getting there: About 30 km south of Kirsehir towards Kesikkopru.
• Time: 30 to 45 minutes.
• Tickets and hours: Terms for entering the caravanserai vary, so confirm before you go.

11. Ucayak Church

A Byzantine church ruin standing alone on the steppe north of Kirsehir. What survives is the pair of towers from the west facade and the arch between them, which is where the name comes from. One thing sets it apart in central Anatolia: it was built in brick rather than stone. It is usually dated to the tenth or eleventh century, and there is no trace of a settlement around it.

Getting there takes effort. The village roads are narrow, signposting is poor and there are no facilities on site. In return you get the most memorable image in the province. In winter and after rain the track turns to mud and a low car will struggle. Come in morning or evening light; midday sun flattens the brickwork.

• Getting there: About 40 km north of Kirsehir on village roads towards Hashoyuk.
• Time: 2 to 3 hours including the drive.
• Common mistake: Following the navigation blindly. Ask for directions in the last village.

When to go

Late April to early June is the best window. The steppe is green, the temperature is manageable, and this is when Seyfe is most likely to hold water. September and October come a close second, when the heat breaks and Ahilik Week falls.

July and August are dry and hot, with almost no shade, and the middle of the day is wasted. Winter is cold with snow, which makes Ucayak, Hirfanli and Seyfe awkward, though the centre is fine and the thermal side of town suits the cold.

How many days

One full day covers the centre: Cacabey, the Ahi Evran complex, the museum and Asik Pasa are within walking distance, and the citadel mound with the Alaaddin Mosque sits on the same walk.

With two days, give the second to Kaman and drop down to the Hirfanli shore on the way back. With three, use the third for the south and east, linking the Mucur underground city, Seyfe Lake and Kesikkopru on one loop. Ucayak works better as its own half day. As a single overnight between Ankara and Cappadocia, the centre plus Kesikkopru covers it.

Where to stay

Most accommodation is in the city centre, between Cacabey Square and the Ahi Evran complex. Base yourself along that line and you can do the central stops without a car and walk to dinner.

The alternative is the thermal district southwest of the centre, where the geothermal water is. That works if the spa is why you came, but you will be driving in and out. The centre fills up at weekends and during Ahilik Week, so book ahead.

Getting around

Kirsehir has no airport. The nearest options are Nevsehir Cappadocia, Kayseri and Ankara Esenboga, and from all three you continue by road. There is no passenger rail service either.

Buses work well, since Kirsehir sits on the Ankara to Kayseri corridor, and the terminal is close to the centre. Ankara is roughly 185 km away, Nevsehir about 90 km and Kayseri about 145 km. Within the province a car is close to essential, because public transport is no help for the rural stops.

What to eat

The cooking follows the central Anatolian pattern: bulgur-heavy, plenty of hand-rolled dough, meat treated simply. There is no signature dish the province has pushed outwards. Look for hand-cut noodle dishes, tarhana and yoghurt-based soups, tandir bread and bulgur pilaf with meat; for something sweet, grape molasses and flour halva. The bazaar streets around Cacabey Square hold most of the tradesmen's restaurants and bakeries. Kaman is associated with walnuts, Mucur with grapes and molasses.

Honest warnings

Kirsehir is not a destination on its own, it is part of a route. The buildings in the centre are good but small, and blocking out a full day expecting more will disappoint you.

Seyfe Lake is a gamble. With water it is the best stop in the province; without it, an empty salt flat.

Published opening hours are unreliable, especially for the museum, the underground city and the culture centre. The thermal district southwest of the city and the Karakurt springs at Karalar village are the known spa sources, but facilities and prices change constantly. There is no shade anywhere, so a hat and water are a real requirement in summer.

Frequently asked questions

**Was Cacabey really an astronomy madrasa?** That astronomy was taught there is widely accepted. The story about the courtyard well being used for daytime star observation is disputed and unsettled.

**Will I see flamingos at Seyfe Lake?** If there is water, yes, and spring gives the best chance. In dry years the birds leave, so check the water level first.

**Can you visit Kirsehir without a car?** The centre is walkable and buses on the Ankara to Kayseri corridor make it easy to reach. For the rural stops a car is effectively necessary.

**What is there to see connected to Neset Ertas?** The culture and arts centre in the south of the city, though its programme is irregular. Check the events calendar to hear abdal music live.