Yedi Göller -Seven Lakes-

The Yeniçağa crossing on the Ankara - İstanbul highway leads you into Yedigöller National Park. The road goes through Mengen, a small area long known for producing many of Turkey's finest chefs. It is a good place to stop when visiting the region to enjoy traditional Turkish cooking. The twisting and turning 42-km Yedigöller features stunning forest landscapes.

The Yedigöller group of seven small lakes is located within the boundaries of the 550-hectare national park on two plateaus that have a height difference of 100 meters between them. These lakes are called Büyükgöl, Deringöl, Seringöl, Nazlıgöl, Sazlıgöl, İncegöl and Küçükgöl and they are fed by the same sparkling mountain stream, forming a treasure of untouched nature, both in the summer and winter. For most who go there, the best time of the year to visit is autumn, when the trees and hillsides are painted in reds, yellows and all the colors that make autumn such a glorious time of year.

The park is home to several species of trees such as beech, hornbeam, oak, poplar and pine. Although the lakes are not large, they are beautiful and their shores are home to deer, bears, wolves, foxes, rabbits, squirrels and countless numbers of birds. If you are lucky, you can also see swans on Büyükgöl. Fishing is also a possibility in certain seasons.

Whatever the season, the lakes are charming simply because they are undeveloped and are never crowded with cars, buses or people. For this reason, it is an ideal place for long romantic walks, evenings by the fire and nights of deep sleep of the kind that most people have forgotten about.

There are only small bungalows belonging to the Forestry Ministry where visitors who want to linger can stay, and it is wise to make a reservation prior to arrival. The silence of nature there is enhanced by the comfort of the bungalows, all of which have fireplaces and barbecues. You have to bring everything you will need with you because, once you are at Yedigöller, you are completely cut off from civilization. There are no other hotels or even local bed-and-breakfast establishments to cater to the casual visitor; only wooden tables at which you can enjoy the panorama while eating and drinking whatever you brought with you. However, if you wish to enrich your menu, you can drop the trout production farm at Deringöl and cook the fish in the furnaces nearby. If you don't want to leave civilization entirely, you can spend the night at Koru Otel, 15 km away from Bolu on the İstanbul-Ankara highway.

Ankara Orman Bölge Müdürlüğü(Forest Region Directorate)
Tel: (312) 213 54 78-212 63 00

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