Phrygia

Tourists visiting Turkey's Afyonkarahisar province had the chance to fly over the ancient Phrygian Valley with hot air balloons. (AA Photo)

Nearly 800 local and foreign athletes participated in the seventh Phrygian Ultra Marathon this year, which is one of the biggest in Turkey in terms of the size of the event, following a year paused by the pandemic.

Archaeologists in northwestern Turkey discovered a relief on Aug. 16 depicting a war between the Greeks and Persians in the fifth century B.C.

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The world premiere of the play 'Kybele,' adapted from Güngör Dilmen's work 'I am Anadolu,' was held at the Yazılıkaya Open Air Temple of Midas Monument, which was built by the Phrygian civilization 6,000 years ago in the Han district of the Central Anatolian province of Eskişehir and is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

A hidden gem in the ancient Phrygian Valley has become an alternative tourist destination in western Turkey with many historical places and "fairy chimneys" it boasts.

The Üçlerkayası village in the İhsaniye district of Afyonkarahisar province is a "hidden paradise," according to Tanju Tetik, the head of the Phrygian Culture Foundation.

A surface survey will be carried out in collaboration with Pamukkale University (PAU) and the Sarayköy Municipality to unearth the underground ancient city of Attouda in the western province of Denizli's Sarayköy district.

More than 300 caves of different sizes, including rock settlements, carved rock tombs and chapels in the village of Ayazini, which is located within the borders of the historical Phrygian Valley, attract the attention of tourists.

The Alanya Museum, where cultural assets belonging to the Neolithic and Hellenistic periods as well as artifacts from the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuks and Ottoman civilizations are on display, provides information about the ancient Anatolian civilizations.

Daily life of the Phrygian period will be brought to light via visual shows and animations in the Büyük Göztepe Tumulus in Safranbolu, a town in Turkey's northern province of Karabük, which is famous for its Ottoman-era buildings that include frame houses, inns and Turkish bathhouses.

The "Emre Lake and Phrygian Civilization Garden Project," under construction in the İhsaniye district of the western province of Afyonkarahisar, is expected to revive nature, history and sport tourism in the region when it finishes in 2021.