Çankırı

Understand

thumb | 300px | Old town near the castle It's only 90 min drive from the Turkish capital but feels much further, a conservative provincial backwater, though it does have a university. The Byzantines used to exile people here, to the place then known as Gangra, meaning "goats". At some point mid-4th century, 21 bishops convened here ("The Synod of Gangra") to fulminate against Eustathius of Sebaste and his disciples, who were being ultra-holy in quite the wrong way.

One who left the area in the 19th century in search of a better life was Hacı Ahmet Rıza Effendi, from Kalfat a village west of Çankırı; he moved to Istanbul where he had a son Ali Kemal (1869–1922). Kemal was a journalist, anglophile and liberal and briefly the last interior minister of the Ottoman empire, but lynched by the "Young Turk" radicals. He was the great-grandfather of Boris Johnson, British prime minister 2019–22, whose contributions to Anglo-Turkish friendship included winning a magazine prize for the most scurrilous limerick about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Get in

Çankırı is 140 km north of Ankara, a 90 min drive across the windswept Anatolian steppes, with some remarkable views of eroded hillsides watching the highway from a distance.

The town is on the railway from Ankara to Zonguldak, which has been closed for years for engineering works. The work in 2022 is nearly complete but there's no news on when trains might resume.

Buses run hourly from Ankara Asti terminal and take two hours, for a fare in 2022 of 110 TL. The main operator on this route is Özlem, which is Turkish for "yearning". One bus a day runs direct from Istanbul via Gebze, Izmit and Adapazarı.

Buses run every couple of hours from Kastamonu to the north, taking two hours.

the bus station is 500 m south of town centre. It's small but modern and usually clean. There's a taxi rank.

Get around

The central sites are close enough to walk around. You need your own wheels to reach the salt caves.

See

Old town is in the higgledy-piggledy alleys towards the castle, with rows of renovated historic houses. Yeni Cami, new mosque, is 100 m north of Büyük Cami. Çankırı Museum is on Atatürk Blv 200 m south of Büyük Cami, open Tu-Su 09:00-17:00. . near the university was built in 1243 as a mosque and hospital. The hospital has disappeared and the mosque became a mausoleum.

Do

Football: Çankırıspor play soccer away down in the amateur local leagues. Their home ground Atatürk Stadyumu is by the disused railway station and has a capacity of 5500.

Buy

thumb | 300px | In the Salt Caves The cluster of stores around town centre includes Migros at Atatürk Blv 51, open daily 09:00-22:00. There's another little retail area west of the railway tracks.

Eat

A dozen or so little eating places are along Atatürk Bulvarı or south of it towards the river.

Drink

Many cafes serve beer. There isn't a stand-alone pub.

Sleep

Otel Sim Prestige on Atatürk Blv 42 gets poor reviews.

Connect

Çankırı and its approach roads have 4G from all Turkish carriers. As of Jan 2024, 5G has not rolled out in Turkey.