Afyon

Afyon

Afyonkarahisar, is a city in western Turkey, the capital of Afyon Province. The city is in mountainous countryside inland from the Aegean coast, 250 km (155 mi) south-west of Ankara along the Akarcay River.

Afyonkarahisar has a continental climate and semi-arid climate with cold and snowy winters and hot and dry summers. Rainfall occurs mostly during the spring and autumn. The city is the centre of an agricultural area and the city has a country town feel to it. There is little in the way of bars, cafes, live music or other cultural amenities, and the standards of education are low for a city in the west of Turkey. However Afyon Kocatepe University opened in the 1990s and this must surely lead to improvements eventually. Nowadays Afyon is known for its marble (in 2005 there were 355 marble quarries in the province of Afyon producing high quality white stone), its sucuk (spiced sausages), its kaymak (meaning either cream or a white Turkish Delight) and various handmade weavings.

There is also a large cement factory. This is a natural crossroads, the routes from Ankara to Izmir and from Istanbul to Antalya intersect here and the city is a popular stopping-place on these journeys. There are a number of well-established roadside restaurants for travellers to breakfast on the local cuisine. Some of these places are modern well-equipped hotels and spas; the mineral waters of Afyon are renowned for their healing qualities. There is also a long string of roadside kiosks selling the local Turkish delight.

Afyon is also an important railroad junction between Izmir, Konya, Ankara and Istanbul. All bus compnies when driving to Antalya they stop here. This is crossroads for highway.