The story of Safranbolu

Safranbolu takes its name from saffron, a rare plant that grows in the region. This district of Karabük lies 231 km north of Ankara and 90 km south of the Black Sea, in the land the Romans called Paphlagonia, a region that appears in Homer's Iliad. Tumuli here show a long history of human settlement, and the town's known past reaches back to around 3000 BC.

Hittites, Phrygians, Persians, Romans, Seljuks and Ottomans all ruled here. When the Seljuks took the town in 1196, it was called Dadibra. In 1332 the traveller Ibn Battuta, heading for Kastamonu, found a madrasa here teaching the Hanafi school.

Its finest era came in the 17th century, on the Ottoman road from Istanbul to Sinop. Wander its streets to see the historic Safranbolu houses, classic Ottoman town architecture that has kept the city on the World Heritage List since 17 December 1994, one of Turkey's 19 cultural properties there.