Boğazkale

Boğazkale is a village in the Central Karadeniz or Black Sea region of Turkey, with a population of 1200 in 2022. The reason to visit is the Hittite city of Hattusa, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Understand

The Hittites were a Bronze Age people who migrated from the Asian steppes into Anatolia around 3000 BC. They formed several kingdoms but from 1650 BC were in a united realm centred on Hattusa. Their zenith was 1350-22 BC under King Šuppiluliuma I, who ruled all of Anatolia except the west coast, and who subjugated Syria. The Hittites warred with Egypt, but the Hebrew Bible mostly describes them as allies and trading partners of the Israelites. Their realm collapsed around 1200 BC, as did the other Bronze Age societies for unknown reasons. The Bible describes Uriah the Hittite as an elite soldier of King David, who sets him up to get killed in battle to steal his wife Bathsheba. David's time was 1000 BC, the dawn of the Iron Age, with the ability to temper iron into steel for much stronger weapons and agricultural and domestic implements.

Hattusa was about 1 km square, with a peak population of 10,000 and an inner and outer city protected by stout walls. The inner city stood on higher ground and had the palaces and temples; the outer buildings to the south were of timber and mud-brick and have vanished. Beyond the walls were cemeteries. A short way east was the holy site now called Yazılıkaya, "inscribed rock", for its richly carved reliefs. The area has been investigated in fits and starts since the 1830s and most artefacts have gone to distant museums, especially to the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations in Ankara. The pair of sphinxes at the south gate have returned from travels to Berlin and Istanbul.

Get in

Boğazkale is on a back road though the hills between Sungurlu and Yozgat. The nearest place with regular public transport is Sungurlu 30 km northwest, on the Ankara-Samsun bus route. The bus station there is on D190 west edge of town. You might be able to find a dolmuş to Boğazkale, but the municipal bus no longer runs, and chances are you'll have to take a taxi.

Get around

Explore Hattusa and Yazılıkaya on foot.

See

Sphinx Gate, Hattusa

• Boğazköy Museum, Hitit Cd 14 (50 m south of Hotel Aşıkoğlu), ☏ +90 364 452 2006. Daily 08:00-18:30. Small but well-presented museum with English signage. It displays findings from Hattusa, though most of these are in Ankara. Adult 70 TL. (updated Aug 2024)
• Aslanağa Cami is the modern main mosque, in village centre behind Baykal Hotel. Another is under construction just south of the museum.
• 1 Hattusa. Foundation courses of the Hittite capital, partly reconstructed. (updated Aug 2024)
• 2 Yazılıkaya. Foundations of a Hittite religious site, with intricate stone reliefs. (updated Aug 2024)
• 3 Ibikçam is a barrage lake with a recreation and camping area 11 km south of town up a poor road. In 2024 the area is closed, and its "Japanese Garden" is probably somewhere beneath the strewn trash.

Do

• The Hittite Trail is a collection of signposted hiking and cycling routes around Boğazkale. An English version is posted by the Culture Routes Society Turkey.

Buy

A101 and Durdemir Bakkaliyesi are convenience stores in town centre.

Eat

• Odak is a good eating place in the main square, open M-Sa 07:00-21:00, Su 10:00-21:00.
• The hotel restaurants (Aşıkoğlu, and Hattusas within Baykal) get mediocre reviews.

Drink

Some restaurants serve alcohol.

Sleep

• 1 Hotel Aşıkoğlu, Hitit Cd 25, ☏ +90 364 452 2004. Poor quality, even considering the low price. Hittite Houses are their annex across the street, and no better. B&B double 1000 TL. (updated Aug 2024)
• 2 Başkent Demiralan Hotel, Yazılıkaya Cd 45, ☏ +90 364 452 2037. Clean spacious rooms near the ruins. B&B double 800 TL. (updated Aug 2024)
• 3 Hotel Baykal (Hattusas Pension / Restaurant), Cumhuriyet Meydanı 20, ☏ +90 536 740 4668. Basic central rooms. B&B double 500 TL. (updated Aug 2024)

Stay safe

Yazılıkaya

Wear long trousers and avoid long grass April-October to avoid bites from ticks (kene), which can transmit Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever.

Connect

As of August 2024, Bogazkale town has a patchy 4G signal from Vodafone, but nothing from Türk Telekom or Turkcell, and no signal on the approach highways. 5G has not yet rolled out in Turkey.

Go next

• Tokat is where Vlad the Impaler (inspiration for Dracula) was imprisoned for a time, which didn't sweeten his temper.
• Amasya has whitewashed Ottoman architecture and ancient tombs engraved on the cliffs above town.
• Ordu on the coast has many old buildings.
• Samsun is the largest city on the Turkish Black Sea coast, with museums, sports and the opera.

Routes through Boğazkale

Connects to and (via ) towards Çorum ←

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