Kastamonu towns eye tourism development

By Metin Demirsar

Taskopru, Kastamonu (Dunya) – Municipal officials in the towns of the province of Kastamonu, in northern Turkey, see enhancement of tourist attractions, cultural sites and development of the wilderness country as means of reversing population loss.
Located along the country’s western Black Sea coast, Kastamonu is an enormous province with a huge hinterland, often referred to as the ‘Switzerland of Turkey’ because of its verdant mountains, lush forests, rich pastures and farmlands.
The northern parts of the province lie within the boundaries of Kure Mountain National Park, one of the several European sites designated as a Pan Park, or environmentally protected zone.
Yet the province has been losing population because of the lack of  jobs. There are several times more people from Kastamonu living in Istanbul and Ankara than in the province itself, officials say. The province has a total population of around 370,000 at the end of 2011.
The provincial capital Kastamonu is located 508 km (315 miles) east of Istanbul and 245 km (152 miles) northeast of Ankara and is easily reached by bus. An airport in the provincial capital will soon reopen that will revive tourism.

"The number one problem here is creating employment opportunities," said Huseyin Arslan, 56, mayor of Taskopru, a town of 16,600 inhabitants, 44 km (27.3 miles) from the provincial capital. "We have no organized industrial zones."
Taskopru as a market town is best known as the center for the Turkey’s farming of garlic, the area’s main crop. Mr. Aslan, the son of a garlic farmer, is a businessman and contractor.
One of his municipality’s main projects is the excavations that are being carried out at Pompeiopolis, an ancient city that is nearby.  Roman general and politician Pompey built the city in 64 B.C., but the city is now in ruins. An amphitheater, sections of old houses and statuary have been uncovered.
"More tourists will visit Taskopru as the site is excavated," he said.

Equestrian Sports in Daday
Daday, a town of 3,100 inhabitants 20 km north of the provincial capital, is developing hotels and equestrian sports to attract tourists..

The town is surrounded by rolling hills. Several equestrian farms are located nearby, such as the Baris Equestrian Tourism and Sports Center, with bungalows and cottages, where tourists can stay and rent horses for riding in the countryside.

Daday has the only five-star resort in the entire Black Sea region of Turkey east of Istanbul province: Iksir Resort Town Daday offers visitors spas and equestrian sports facilities in a luxury environment.

"We are developing several hotels here," says Daday’s Mayor Hasan Fehmi Tas.
Seydiler

The Mayor of  the town Seydiler, which is situated at the altitude 1,025 meters (3,178 feet above sea level), has constructed a modern Culture Center in honor of Serife Baci, a martyr and heroine of the 1919-1922 Turkish War of Independence. The center doubles up a hotel and restaurant for visitors and as a school of handicrafts and arts.

The four-story Martyr Serife Baci Cultural Center, built with the support from the Central government and local donations, is a replica of the old Ottoman houses of Kastamonu, Mayor Mehmed Sahin, 60, expressed. His wife, Serife Sahin, runs the center, which opened last August, on a voluntary basis.

Seydiler, a farming community of 2,550 inhabitants, has an organized industrial zone, where industrial molds and models are built, and medical textiles and conveyor belts are produced.

Azdavay

Wedged between mountains, Azdavay resembles an Alpine hamlet. It has a population of 3,000 inhabitants.

"Tourists coming from outside will find comfort, peace and quiet here," said Mayor Osman Nuri Civelek, also a former school teacher serving his second five-year term. "Boutique hotels, bungalows, pensions are suitable for Azdavay," Mr. i Civelek stressed.

Municipal, county and forestry officials have developed miles of trekking and mountain biking trails into the Kure Mountain National Park, including a three km (two mile) trail to an outpost overlooking the Catak Canyon, nearly 600 meters (1,860 feet below).

Pinarbasi

Mayor Mehmet Yilmaz takes pride in the many canyons waterfalls and caves located near Pinarbasi, his town of 1,700 inhabitants.  The town’s name is soon to be changed to Kanyon (Canyon)..

The 12 km (7.4 mile) Valla Canyon, one of the largest canyons on earth, begins near a village about 25 km from the town. The entrance to the treacherous canyon is through an extremely difficult route, inaccessible to all but professional mountain climbers. The canyon walls are 800-1,200 meters high.

Boardwalks are being installed on the sides of the 4km (2.5mile)-long Horma Canyon, the other canyon, that will allow pedestrians to walk from one end to the other end in less than four hours. Restaurants and tea houses and a small mosque or mescit will also be constructed in the canyon. It used to take days to wade through the waters of the canyon.
The İlgarini Cave, one of Turkey’s largest, and the Ilica Waterfalls, excellent for swimming, are also located near the town.