North of Antalya and south of Afyon is Turkey's Lake District with three
significantly large lakes: Lake Burdur, Lake Egirdir, and Lake Beysehir,
along with many smaller ones. The main town in the area is Isparta famous
for its rose oil, but definitely the most interesting is Egirdir at the
southern shore of the astonishingly beautiful Egirdir Gölü,
the second largest freshwater lake in Turkey.
Egirdir was originally founded by the Hittites and became a regular stop on the King's Way, an important trade route between Ephesus and Babylon, famous for its recreational and accomodation facilities. In Byzantine times the place was known as Akrotiri meaning "steep mountain" in Greek. Under Ottoman rule, this was transformed to Egridir meaning "bent"or "crooked" in Turkish. In the mid-1980's the name was changed again to Egirdir which means "she is spinning".
Egirdir stretches for several kilometres along the lake. Opposite the town center, are two tiny islands connected with each other and the mainland by a causeway. Canada, meaning Life Island, is the name of the first and smallest of the two islands. The second one is named Yesilada or Green Island and was until 1923 home of a Greek community living in beautiful stone and timber houses.
