Day Trip to the Phrygian Valley: The 17-Metre Midas Monument (Yazılıkaya) and Han

Seventy-five kilometres south of central Eskişehir, the flat Anatolian steppe suddenly erupts into a surreal pine-forested labyrinth of rose-and-cream volcanic tuff canyons: the Phrygian Valley (Frig Vadisi). Between the 9th and 6th centuries BC, the Iron Age Phrygians, ruled by the legendary King Midas ("of the golden touch and donkey's ears"), carved monumental geometric temple facades dedicated to the Anatolian Mother Goddess Cybele (Matar Kubileya) directly into the vertical volcanic cliffs, later expanded with Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine rock-cut castles and underground cities.

1. Yazılıkaya ("The Inscribed Rock" / Midas City, The Crown Jewel)

Rising on a flat-topped volcanic acropolis 700 metres long right above the village of Yazılıkaya (free admission), Midas City was the religious heart of the Phrygian Kingdom:

• The 17-Metre Midas Monument (Yazılıkaya): facing due east to catch the first rays of the rising sun, a sheer volcanic cliff was chiselled completely flat into a 17-metre-high, 16.5-metre-wide geometric temple facade topped by a triangular pediment and a central ritual niche where the bronze statue of the Mother Goddess Cybele was placed during festivals. Above the left corner runs an Old Phrygian alphabetic inscription containing the word "MIDAI LAVAGTAEI VANAKTEI" ("To Midas, Commander and King"), which gave the monument its modern name.
• Climb Onto the Acropolis Plateau: follow the rock-cut stairs past the Unfinished Monument (Bitmemiş Anıt), rock-cut throne altars of Cybele, and two astonishing subterranean rock-cut water cistern staircases (Kırkgöz) plunging 60 metres down into the volcanic rock.

2. Gerdekkaya Rock Tomb, Han Underground City & 1208 Seyit Battal Gazi Complex

On the drive back toward Eskişehir, stop at three remarkable sites right along the route:

1. Gerdekkaya: a monumental 3rd-century BC Hellenistic rock-cut temple tomb featuring a pedimented porch supported by two Doric columns carved straight out of a standalone cliff face.
2. Han Underground City & Pit Grave Necropolis (15 km east of Yazılıkaya): a subterranean rock-cut granary and shelter city connected by tunnels beneath a hillside honeycombed with hundreds of Roman rock-cut arcosolia graves.
3. The Seyit Battal Gazi Complex (In Seyitgazi, halfway to Eskişehir): crowning the hill above Seyitgazi town stands a vast 1207 to 1208 Seljuk and early-Ottoman dervish and pilgrimage complex built by Umbühan Hatun (mother of Seljuk Sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev I) around the giant 5.5-metre sarcophagus of the 8th-century Islamic warrior-saint Seyit Battal Gazi.