Burdur

The Medusa mosaic and the Odeon stoa floor mosaic in the ancient city of Kibyra in the southern province of Burdur are now open to visitors again. The artifacts, which remain closed during the winter months for protection against climatic conditions, will be open to visitors until the end of November.

Türkiye's world-famous Lake Salda, recognized for its turquoise water and white beach in Yeşilova district of the southern province of Burdur, will kick off the new tourism season with hot air balloons.

Every year, thousands of tourists throng the lake, especially in the summer months.

As 2023 nears its end, archaeologists working in ancient cities all around Anatolia made significant discoveries throughout the year. According to archaeology magazine Arkeofili editors, the most exciting archaeological discoveries in Türkiye in 2023 are as follows:

1. Boar statue in Göbeklitepe

A U.S. team, including a Turkish scientist, has reached the second phase of its work in Lake Salda, which has a carbon structure similar to Mars, in search of traces of possible life on Mars.

Mars studies, which began in Lake Salda in the southern province of Burdur towards the end of 2019, continue with new questions from scientists.

United States authorities have returned $8 million of stolen antiquities, some of which were plundered as far back as the 1960s to Türkiye, a prosecutor said on Dec. 5.

Among the 41 pieces returned were two Heads of the Roman emperor Caracalla and the Bust of a Lady which were trafficked from Bubon, a Roman-era site in southwest Türkiye which was extensively looted in the 1960s.

The General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks (DKMP) of the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry has successfully relocated red deer from the northwestern province of Bursa to the Salda Lake region in the southern province of Burdur.

A mounted gendarmerie team has started to work in Salda Lake, famous for its turquoise water and white beach in Yeşilova district of the southern province of Burdur.

Women workers who opened a workshop together to produce bocce balls after receiving relevant training as part of a project in the southern province of Burdur have received a massive order for 114,000 bocce balls from France.

A Turkish military anthropologist has left her career in the United States and has returned to her hometown to claim her grandfather's land on which she has started dry farming.

With lavender production in Türkiye expanding to an area of 20,000 decares, the country has become able to meet its annual lavender oil needs, according to Öztürk Sarıca, a vet and the founder of a local nature organization which established Türkiye's largest lavender field.