Lake Uluabat’s little Eğirdir Gölyazı

“Ninety lira. Ninety-five lira? Ninety-five, I'm bid. Ninety-six? Ninety-seven? And eight. And nine. One hundred lira. One hundred and one, I'm bid…”

I'm watching the fish auction that takes place at noon every day in Gölyazı on Lake Uluabat, due west of Bursa. It's a lively affair, albeit small-scale, with the buyers and sellers all on first-name terms with each other. One after another the fishermen stride into what looks rather like a boxing ring, emptying their catch from the nets into big plastic bowls inscribed with their names. Then when their turn comes they toss the fish out onto the floor, whereupon the auctioneer casts an expert eye over the number and size of the fish before commencing the bidding.

To be honest, this is not really a sight for the squeamish since the fish are tipped onto the floor while still living, and lie there gasping for breath and occasionally venturing futile leaps straight up into the air and back down again. The men claim that they're tuna although they actually seem to be carp, and the auctioneer says that they handle around one and a half tons of the fish every day. By 12:45 p.m. it's all over, and the crowd of men (and one woman) who came to buy are speeding away to fish markets around the country. If your conscience permits it, you can slink away too, if only to the Ağlayan Çınar Restaurant on the mainland to tuck into a very reasonably priced fish lunch.

A pinprick of a place on the eastern side of the 135-square-kilometer lake, Gölyazı, the site of the ancient Apolyont, doesn't even show up on many maps. It sits on a tiny island joined to the mainland by a causeway, and your first thought will probably be that it's just like a miniature version of Eğirdir in the Turkish Lake District although without the mountainous backdrop. The lake itself is exquisitely beautiful, its shores surprisingly unspoiled, its waters still and quiet, making this a perfect place to come if you want to throw off the stresses of city life. Not surprisingly, most of the locals make their living out of fishing with a twist of weekend tourism on the side.

Apolyont actually seems to have started life as Apollonia ad Rhydacum, taking its name from what was then known as the Rhydacus and is now the Mustafakemalpaşa River. It was settled by colonists from Miletus some time around 700 B.C. although by the second century B.C. it formed part of the kingdom of Pergamum (Bergama). Later inevitably it fell to the Romans, and was probably visited by the Emperor Hadrian in 124 after a major earthquake devastated the area. There's not much left of Apolyont today, although it's still worth checking out the scattered ruins that start as soon as you arrive at the edge of the modern village on the mainland. From these it's obvious that this would once have been a walled settlement with defensive towers (there's one surviving in the schoolyard) and gates to admit visitors. The walls continued onto the island, although some of what you see today probably stems from a Byzantine rebuild.

The most substantial remains are gathered around the oversized modern mosque on the island where several lengths of wall still survive, the most interesting being on the water side of the mosque where stones carved with garlands and bulls' heads line up above a lengthy Greek inscription. Otherwise, as you wander around the island (and you can complete the circuit in half an hour) you need to keep your eyes peeled for pieces of pillar and the odd reused capital that evoke long-lost buildings. Most of the stones are collected around the small early Ottoman mosque at the highest point of the island, suggesting that the Romans and then the Ottomans in turn homed in on the same strategically important location to form the centerpiece of their towns. In all probability there was a temple to Apollo very close to where the mosque stands today.

Pretty as it is, Gölyazı is no undamaged mini Safranbolu. The battered remains of older houses suggest that it must once have boasted many properties whose stone-built ground floors were topped off with wattle-and-daub or patterned brickwork. But nowadays most such imposing houses have given way to the usual mish-mash of cement-built homes although here on the island their brightly colored facades and the proud line-ups of potted plants give them a certain charm that they might not have elsewhere. As you wander round the streets virtually every local will take it upon themselves to welcome you to the island -- before visiting you'd be well advised to learn to chant “hoş bulduk,” the formulaic response to “hoş geldiniz” (welcome).

The tourism signs home in on the Ağlayan Çınar (Weeping Plane Tree), an enormous tree, said to be more than 700 years old, that sits beside the causeway across to the island, a small wooden ladder permitting access to the hollow inside its trunk. Gölyazı is also a paradise for birds. At this time of year the most conspicuous are the storks who are busily tidying up the ramshackle nests that perch on every telegraph pole while sparrows freeload in the twigs beneath them. Elsewhere the trees are alive with the twittering of goldfinches, while swallows are returning to mud-built nests beneath the eaves. Later, pelicans will also arrive to join the cormorants and terns fishing in the lake. Rare pygmy cormorants also nest here amid the beds of reeds and white water lilies.

The island is the real reason to come to Gölyazı. However, you might also want to take a quick look at the large brick and stone Church of St. Michael on the mainland that was abandoned in 1924 when the local Greek population was forced to leave Turkey. After last year's local government reshuffle, Gölyazı has been downgraded to a mere neighborhood of Bursa, hence the unlikely sight of banners attributing the work to the Nilüfer Belediyesi (municipality). Closer inspection reveals that the European Union is also supporting the restoration effort as part of a wider project to help develop sustainable tourism here (www.bursagolyazi.com). If you walk through the cemetery behind it you will be able to inspect the part of the church that is not hidden behind scaffolding as well as a collection of old Ottoman tombstones, some of them topped off with stone fezes.

Gölyazı is overwhelmed with visitors over summer weekends, so you'd be well advised to time your trip for midweek when you'll be able to appreciate the wonderful peacefulness undisturbed. Of course nothing beats taking to the lake yourself. There are a few rowing boats for hire on the mainland. Alternatively you'll probably be able to persuade one of the fishermen to take you out in their boat with them.

WHERE TO STAY

It would be lovely to sleep by the lake but unfortunately there are no hotels in Gölyazı. Your best bet is probably to stay in Bursa, where there are hotels in all price brackets including the stunning new Kitap Evi.

Kitap Evi: 0224-225 4160

Safran Oteli: 0224-224 7216

H. Çeşmeli: 0224-224 1511

HOW TO GET THERE

To get to Gölyazı from central Bursa take Line 2 of the Metro to Küçük Sanayi. There are direct buses from there roughly every two hours from 8 a.m., with the last bus back from the lake at 8 p.m. Alternatively, you can take a bus towards Karacabey and get out at the junction with the road to Gölyazı. It's a five-kilometer walk to the lake.