Afyon
Afyon View on the Citadel
Formerly Afyon (meaning Opium) was officially called
Afyonkarahisar ("Black Fortress of Opium"). The production of
opium for pharmaceutical purposes is still the most important activity for
the agricultural sector of the region. Afyon produces more than a third of
the world's legally grown opium. But in Turkey, Afyon is really famous for
the production of kaymak (clotted cream). Kaymak is the rich
cream produced by cattle that are fed the left-over opium plants.
Afyon also played an important role during the War of Independence. In
August 1922, the Turks destroyed the Greek expeditionary army here at
Afyon in what is called the Battle of the Commander-in-Chief (guess who?).
The drive from Ankara to Afyon took about 4 hours. We were
very lucky to stay in the Grand Özer Termal Otel, Afyon's best hotel. The
hotel asks a reasonable price of about 30 Euro (about 35 US dollar) for a
single room, breakfast included. For this price we got a nice room with
air-conditioning and sattelite TV, a buffet style breakfast and, last but
not least, access to the thermal swimming pool in the basement. The Grand
Özer Termal Otel (Tel +90-(0)272 214 33 00, e-mail: email.grandozer@turk.net
or email.info@grandozer.com )
is located at the Süleyman Gönçer Caddesi No. 2 near the main square Hükümet Meydanı.
Click on the thumbnails to get a greater picture
