Turkey
Midas City
King Midas's name carved into a 17-metre rock facade, Phrygian tombs scattered across the plateau.
The rock facade rises seventeen metres from the plateau — a geometric monument carved into volcanic tuff, the name of King Midas inscribed across its face in Phrygian script. Wind moves across the grass. Tomb chambers open into the cliff. Midas City in central Turkey is the silent capital of a civilisation that most travellers have never heard of, standing exactly where it was carved 2,700 years ago.
Midas City — Yazılıkaya in Turkish — is the largest surviving Phrygian rock-cut monument in Anatolia, located on a high plateau near Eskişehir. The Phrygians, contemporaries of the Greeks and Lydians, carved temples, tombs, and ceremonial facades directly into the soft tuff formations that dot this landscape. The so-called Midas Monument, bearing a dedicatory inscription to King Midas (the historical ruler, not just the myth), is the centrepiece, but dozens of other rock-cut features extend across the surrounding plateau. The site sits within the broader Phrygian Valley, a UNESCO Tentative List area that includes several other carved-rock settlements connected by walking trails. Nearby Afyon is famous for its poppy-seed Turkish delight — haşhaşlı lokum — made from the opium poppies that gave the city its name (Afyon means opium).
Solo
Walking the Phrygian plateau alone, finding rock-cut tombs and inscriptions in the grass, delivers the thrill of exploration without a single tour bus in sight.
Couple
The scale of the Midas Monument, the emptiness of the plateau, and the strangeness of a lost civilisation's capital make this a destination for couples who collect rare experiences over popular ones.
Family
The rock formations and cave tombs feel like a natural playground, and the Midas connection — the king with the golden touch — gives children an instant story to anchor the visit.
Friends
Hike the Phrygian Valley trail linking multiple rock-cut sites, then reward yourselves with poppy-seed Turkish delight and gözleme with foraged herbs. A weekend trip from Ankara or Eskişehir.
- The 17-metre Midas Monument is carved directly into a cliff face and bears one of the earliest known inscriptions of the name 'Midas' in Phrygian script.
- Over 50 Phrygian rock tombs, altars, and carved facades are scattered across the surrounding plateau — most are unmarked and require exploration.
- The Phrygian Valley combines this site with other rock monuments, ruined cities, and Byzantine cave churches within a 20km radius.
- In spring, the open volcanic plateau is covered with wild thyme, poppies, and rock roses — the carved stone rises directly from the flowers.
Phrygian plateau gözleme — hand-rolled flatbread with foraged wild herbs, cooked over vine embers.
Afyon's haşhaşlı lokum, poppy-seed Turkish delight from the fields that gave the nearby city its name.
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