Bolu

Bolu is known in Turkish cooking for its cooks: for centuries the Mengen district has trained masters for palace and mansion kitchens, and today it carries on this tradition with its cookery school and its cookery festival held every year.

Kebabs named after places such as Abant, Yedigöller and Kartalkaya, yayla soup and kabaklı gözleme are among the province's well-known flavours. Buying chocolate, butter and saray helvası on the way back from Bolu is also a tradition.

Culture and language in Bolu

In our province the spoken and written language is Turkish, in a plain style of expression. Distinctive features of the local accent and dialect can be illustrated by examples such as: niçun gelmeyan, napıyen, oluncası, gelincesi, nem ben, bilmeyonku. The names of days, weeks and months are used as in our official calendar. Only Sunday is "kapalı pazar" or "dernek", and Monday is "Bolu pazarı" (Bolu market) day.

Literature of Bolu

The hymns and poems of YUNUS EMRE, who is known to have shrines in many places in Anatolia, appear in the many cönk (manuscript anthologies) collected in and around Bolu. At wedding ceremonies the bride and groom are even walked several times over a new piece of cloth to Yunus's hymns. In the Gökçesu sub-district of our Mengen district there is a Yunuslar village and a place visited as Yunus's grave. Kemal Ümmi was a Sufi poet who lived in the 15th century. Every year a traditional day of remembrance is held in his name in Tekke village, in Bolu's Sazak area, where he spent much of his life. Our epic hero Köroğlu, known to have lived in the late 16th century, is one of the names that come to mind when Bolu is mentioned. There is also the Köroğlu dance, performed with sword and shield. The Köroğlu statue in the Belediye square in the provincial centre is striking. Aşık Dertli, whose real name was İbrahim, was born in 1772 in Şahnalar village of Yeniçağa and died in Ankara in 1845. The poet Dertli's monumental tomb is in Şahnalar village on the Bolu–Gerede highway. A day of remembrance is held every year. Figani of Gerede and Yağcı Emin of Mudurnu were his apprentices.

Tales of Bolu

The Epic of Advice by Aşık Figani of Gerede

Erenler pendini guşeyle cana

A akil doğru sözü arar demişler

“Men aref” bağını kıldınsa me’va

Senin içün her dem bahar demişler

(Listen, soul, to the counsel of the saints; they say the wise seek the true word; if you have made the garden of "whoever knows himself" your home, they say it is always spring for you.)

Şu kahpe felekten murat alınmaz

Yalancı dünyada ebet kalınmaz

Malı olmıyanın dostu bulunmaz

Çaylar denizlere akar demişler

(No wish is granted by this treacherous fate; no one stays for ever in this false world; one who has no wealth finds no friend; they say streams flow into the seas.)

Çok zaman gün bulut içinde kalmaz.

Derler bunalıp da hiç adam olmaz

Altun yere düşmeyince pul olmaz

Er düştüğü yerden kalkar demişler

(The sun does not stay behind the clouds for long; they say no one becomes a man without hardship; gold is not coin until it falls to the ground; they say a brave man rises from where he fell.)

Figani pendimi yabana atma

Rey senin ister tut,istersen tutma

Eğer arif isen sözü uzatma

Südsüz inek durmaz malar demişler

(Figani says: don't cast my advice aside; the choice is yours, take it or leave it; if you are wise, don't drag out your words; they say a cow without milk won't stand still but just lows.)

The best-known are the Köroğlu legend, epic, folk song and dance. There are also tales about the miracles of figures such as Akşemseddin, Şeyh'ül İmran, whose grave is in Mudurnu, Karaarslan and Ümmi Kemal.

Mani (folk quatrains) of Bolu

İşte geldim büklüm büklüm

Sırtımdaki davul yüküm

İşte geldim hanenize

Selam verdim cümlenize

(Here I come, all bent over, the drum on my back is my load; here I come to your house, and I greet you all.)

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İncirim var ezilecek

Tülbentlerde süzülecek

Çok bekletme benim ağam

Mahallem var gezilecek

(I have figs to be crushed and strained through muslin; don't keep me waiting long, my lord, I have a neighbourhood to go round.)

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Çeşme önünde yarim

Boduçmu dolduruyon

Söz verdin de gelmedin

Çocuk mu kandırıyon

(My love at the fountain, are you filling your jug? You gave your word and didn't come; are you fooling a child?)

**************************************

Fındık toplayan gelin

Fındık dalda kalmasın

Eğil bir yol öpeyim

Ahdım yerde kalmasın

(Bride picking hazelnuts, don't leave any on the branch; lean down and let me kiss you once, so my vow isn't left unfulfilled.)

Set sayings of Bolu

• Acıtma arsız edersin,acıktırma hırsız edersin (don't hurt a child or you'll make him shameless, don't leave him hungry or you'll make him a thief)
• Ağızdan burun yakın,kardaştan karın yakın (the nose is closer than the mouth, one's own belly closer than a brother)
• Ağzı eğri olsa da,zengin karısı söylesin (even if her mouth is crooked, let the rich man's wife do the talking)
• Allah dört gözden ayırmasın (may God not part you from your four eyes, i.e. may you keep both your parents)
• Allah kötüler bahtı versin (may God give you the luck of the wicked)
• Bolu’lunun taşınca ayranı,tanımaz bayramı (when the Bolu man's ayran overflows, he forgets all about the holidays)
• Burası Bolu, öyne de olu, böyne de olu (this is Bolu, it can go this way or that way)
• Çok endeleyen ya kele, ya köre (whoever is too choosy ends up with the bald or the blind)
• Dilmi güzel, dilber mi güzel (which is lovelier, the tongue or the beloved?)
• Ekmek elin, su gölün, odun abant’ın (the bread is someone else's, the water the lake's, the wood Abant's)
• Engelsiz döngel yenmiyor (you can't eat medlars without obstacles)
• Evin geniş olacağına elin geniş olsun (better a generous hand than a big house)
• Fukaranın döngeli köhnümez (the poor man's medlar never ripens)
• Kırk gün kıran olmuş, gene de eceli gelen ölmüş (there was plague for forty days, yet only those whose time had come died)
• Sevip dostuna, boşanıp kocana varma (don't go back to a lover you left or a husband you divorced)
• Uşağın hoşafta hakkı olmaz (a servant has no share in the compote)
• Yük altındaki eşek anırmaz (a donkey under a load doesn't bray)
• Allah göynünün muradını versin (may God grant your heart's desire)

Life's turning points in Bolu

When it comes to birth traditions, the first things to consider are the responsibilities the pregnant woman must fulfil. In our area these beliefs are as follows. A pregnant woman may not touch someone else's property without the owner's knowledge, or the child will be born ill-gotten. If she looks at hairy things, the child will be hairy. A mother who wants a hazel-eyed child looks at the moon. A pregnant woman does not eat buffalo cream; if she does, she will give birth early. The child is named on the day it is born. The bed of a woman who has just given birth is kept for seven days. When the child is forty days old, it is taken to the hamam with its mother and relatives. While the baby is being given its fortieth-day bath, it is not shown to its mother. If she sees it, fear will seize the mother and she will fall ill. During the fortieth-day bath, gold is thrown into the water so that the baby will be beautiful. So that the child walks soon, its feet are tied together with a string one Friday and it is taken to the mosque. The first man to come out of the mosque is asked to cut the string; this is called köstek kesme (cutting the hobble).

Because swaddling clothes for girls and boys are prepared before the birth, no distinction is made. However, pink clothes are preferred for girls and blue for boys. People go to see the baby of a woman who has given birth. Relatives and neighbours visit the baby with their gifts, and there the guests are offered lohusa şerbeti (new mother's sherbet). It is made by dissolving a red sugar called "nöbet şekeri" in water. In keeping with the belief known among the people as "Kırk basması, Al basması", the new mother is not left alone in her room for forty days. Whoever sees the child's first tooth receives a gift. A thread is pulled from the clothing of whoever visits the baby and placed in the swaddling. In marriage traditions, the old ways have largely been abandoned. Traditions that continue today are occasional elopement, the live-in son-in-law, süt hakkı (milk money) instead of bride price, making the bride cry on the henna night, civil and religious marriage, the best man and the yenge (bride's attendant), displaying the trousseau, urba görme (viewing the clothes), engagement and wedding. Circumcision and funeral traditions are carried out with religious ceremonies. However, at circumcisions and weddings some families have drums played and köçek dancers perform.

Holidays, ceremonies and celebrations in Bolu

Kurban Bayramı (the Feast of Sacrifice), our religious holiday, is celebrated in line with religious duties. Three months before Ramazan Bayramı, activity starts in every house. Those who wish begin the three months' fast or fast for three days. After the fifteenth of the month of Şaban, cleaning begins. Windows are wiped and laundry is washed. While preparing for Ramadan, neighbouring women get together and roll out yufka. During Ramadan the Quran is read, people go to mukabele (communal Quran recitation), every house first invites the poor and widowed to iftar, and the needy are helped. As well as the iftar cannon and the drum played at sahur, which have become symbols of Ramadan, there is also Ramadan pide. Before iftar, breakfast foods are set out, and soup, pilaf, dolma, a meat dish, compote, dessert and salad are made. It is said that long ago Karagöz shadow plays were performed during Ramadan, and that acrobats and puppets from outside were very popular. On the holy nights (kandil), lokma made from dough is handed out. At sahur, pasta with keş and walnuts is eaten.

Beliefs in Bolu

On Fridays oxen are not yoked and housework is not done. No new handiwork is started on a Tuesday, because "Salı sallanır" (Tuesday drags on). Crops are not sown at the start of the month. When a woman is unwell she does not open her chest and does not touch the pickles, or the pickles will spoil. She does not go to see a baby that is not yet forty days old, or the baby will get jaundice. There are no weddings between the two holidays. Prayers are said during a solar eclipse, and guns are fired during a lunar eclipse. A black cat is considered bad luck. A dog's howling is not taken as a good sign. An owl landing on a house's chimney and hooting means someone in that house will die. If the ribbing is left half-finished when starting a jumper, the work will not grow. A bird dropping on you is a sign that your luck will open up. Rubbish is not thrown outside at night, or the jinn will strike. Chewing gum is not chewed at night, or you will be chewing the flesh of the dead. You do not sit on a doorstep, or you will be slandered. When going to ask for a girl's hand, Thursday evening is preferred so that it will be auspicious. The right shoe is put on first.

Handicrafts and souvenirs of Bolu

The leading handicrafts are needle lace in the Mudurnu district, kaval making in the Kıbrıscık area, copperwork and leatherwork in Gerede, and woodwork in Göynük.

Folk dances of Bolu

Women and men perform the local dances in separate places. Our folk dances are danced by at least two people, and among women the number is no more than six. The dances are performed facing each other and changing direction, in circle and line formations. The dances are individual, and there are no special people such as a leader or someone giving commands. In solo dances such as the çiftetelli, the finest feature is the women's or men's belly and shoulder shaking. In both women's and men's dances, hopping, sliding, jumping and walking are the basic foot movements. In all the dances the arms are bent at the elbow and held still at the sides, or moved up and down in front between waist and shoulder.

In the area, the names of folk songs have also become the names of dances. Almost all the women's dances are performed to folk songs. The song is usually sung by the woman playing the tef (frame drum). Today cassette tapes have taken the place of the tef. At weddings, the old and the young cannot get up to dance at the same time. The Kıbrıscık district in particular is rich in folk dances and costumes.

• Pıt pıt (Men men)
• Atlama (Gazel)
• Düz oyun (Çiftetelli)
• Ah Karadeniz
• Değirmen
• Ziller
• Yemenimin uçları
• Ada Yolu
• Halimem
• Estireyim mi
• Ördek
• Karaköy kaşık

In Bolu, performers called köçek still carry on this tradition today. Köçeks wear women's clothes and dance with their finger cymbals at festivities. The Ördek (duck) dance is one of the most eye-catching dances in our province. In the part that shows the duck sleeping, the dancers will not carry on without being given a tip. Some of the dances performed in our area have a story.

The story of one of these, the Karaköy Sekmesi dance, goes like this:

Every year a shepherd from Karaköy takes the village's animals to the Haymana yayla to graze. When his time is up he returns to the village and falls in love with a girl. He has her family asked for her hand, but the bride price is too high. At this, the village agha calls the shepherd and says he will pay the bride price, but the shepherd must take the agha's sheep to Haymana for a year, fatten them well and bring them back. The shepherd accepts this condition and goes. The time is up but the shepherd has not been able to return. At this, the shepherd's fiancée composes this folk song.

Spectator plays of Bolu

It is said that long ago, especially during Ramadan after iftar, shadow-play screens were set up and Karagöz and puppet shows were performed. However, no masters of this art have been found in our province. They came from other provinces for the shows. At henna nights and weddings, village spectator plays are performed. These plays are the Arab play, şimşelek gelin, the duck, the camel play, hiding the ring, kidnapping the bride and kidnapping the groom.

Nevruz traditions in Bolu

On 21 March, to celebrate the arrival of spring, people go in groups to picnic spots. On this day tombs are also visited and wishes are made. Various entertainments are held in the countryside. Mani are sung, fortunes are drawn and the first flowers of spring are picked. People get up early in the morning; there is a tradition of washing with the first water of Nevruz, and people dress carefully on this day. Eggs dyed with onion skins are cooked and eaten with wishes for plenty and abundance. A fire is lit on a high hill to announce that spring has come. In the Mudurnu district Nevruz is known by names such as "Hep cennet", and in the Göynük district as "Mart Dokuzu".

Hıdrellez traditions in Bolu

6 May, Hıdrellez, is the day the prophets Hızır and İlyas meet on earth. On this day people go on picnics and ride on swings, in the belief that this will cast off their sins. It is thought that if milk is left unfermented overnight, Hızır will come and touch the milk and turn it into yoghurt. If the unfermented milk becomes yoghurt, that yoghurt is used to start yoghurt for a whole year. If the milk becomes yoghurt, a fingerful of it is taken and rubbed on other foods too. Thyme is believed to be healing if picked in the days after Hıdrellez. Generally a place with plenty of water and greenery is chosen for the celebrations. The evening before, a jar is buried at the foot of a rose bush and opened in the morning with mani. No field or garden work is done that day. Those who want a house make a house in their garden, and those who want a baby make a cloth doll. A fire is lit and people jump over it.

History of Bolu province

The oldest known civilisation in Bolu is the Hittites. After the Hittites, Bolu passed in turn to the Phrygians and the Persians, and then became part of the lands of Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia. After that came Bithynia and the Roman Empire, and then, thanks to the victory at Malazgirt (Manzikert), Turkmens settled in Bolu in the 1080s. Later it came under the rule of the Ottoman State.

In the 1200s BC, like all the Hittite lands, Bolu was in the hands of the Phrygians. In the 6th century BC the Persians took control of the region. In 336 BC Alexander the Great defeated the Persians and took Bolu, like many other parts of Anatolia. When Macedonia collapsed after Alexander's death, the Kingdom of Bithynia was founded in the Bolu area. According to written documents, archaeological remains from that period and historical sources, the people who settled within the bend of the Sakarya and Filyos rivers after the Thracian migrations were known as the "Bithyn". That is why north-western Anatolia, including Bolu, was called "Bithynia". The name of the Bolu plain and its surroundings, called Salonia Campus by the Bithynians, was changed by the Romans to "Claudio Polis".

The name Bolu is also thought to come from "Polis". The city, built on three hills, had inner and outer walls. Remains of these walls can be seen in the Halı Hisarı area north of the city. The Turkmens, who spread west after the victory at Malazgirt in 1071, settled in Bolu three years later. The Seljuk commanders Artuk, Tutuk, Danişmend, Karateki and Saltuk Beys reached the borders of Istanbul under the command of Süleyman Şah. During these raids, Bolu was conquered by Aslahaddin of Khorasan.

The first Ottoman raids on the Bolu area were launched by Osman Gazi. The complete conquest of the Bolu area came in the first years of Orhan Gazi's reign (1324–1326). According to another account, in Ottoman times the area was first called "Bol Uluğ" because there were many Uluğ (great) scholars there, and over time it came to be called "BOLU". Bolu was the scene many times of the war between the princes that began with the death of Yıldırım Bayezid (Bayezid I). Bolu not only stayed outside the areas plundered by Timur after the Battle of Ankara, but also sheltered Çelebi Mehmet (Mehmed I), regarded as the second founder of the Ottoman State, on Kızık Yayla until that danger had passed. After Çelebi Mehmet restored the unity of the Ottoman State, Bolu gained a settled administration.

Between 1324 and 1692 Bolu was a sanjak with 36 kazas (districts). In the 16th century Bolu became one of the second-rank princes' sanjaks. In the reign of Bayezid II, Prince Süleyman (the Magnificent) was appointed here. Between 1683 and 1792 Bolu was governed as a voivodeship. Under Mahmud II it was turned into a mutasarrıflık (1811). After the Tanzimat, Bolu was attached to the eyalet of Kastamonu (1864). In 1909 it was again made a mutasarrıflık.

After the Armistice of Mudros came into force and İzmir was occupied, the first Müdafaa-i Hukuk (Defence of Rights) Society in the Bolu area was organised in Gerede. Bolu was not occupied by the enemy during or after the First World War, but it suffered material damage. At the end of the National Struggle led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha, Bolu completed its period as a mutasarrıflık on 10 October 1923 and became a province.

Atatürk's visit to Bolu

Atatürk's arrival in Bolu on 17 July 1934 has been commemorated every year on the same day since then. Atatürk's visit to Bolu is celebrated with various artistic, cultural and sporting events. Relations between Bolu and Mustafa Kemal Pasha began during the Erzurum Congress. The national congresses in Erzurum on 23 July 1919 and in Sivas on 4 September 1919, and their texts, were sent by telegraph to the Bolu Mutasarrıflık.

As President of the Representative Committee, he sent many instructions from Sivas to Mutasarrıf Ali Haydar Bey and to the Müdafaa-i Hukuk Society. Cutting the link with the Damat Ferit Pasha government was also done at Mustafa Kemal Pasha's request. In addition, the Dertli newspaper and requests about public order were reported to Mustafa Kemal Pasha in Sivas. During the uprising at Akyazı, between Bolu and Adapazarı, the attention of the administrators of İzmit, Adapazarı, Düzce and Bolu was often drawn to it. Talks between Mutasarrıf Ali Haydar and Mustafa Kemal Pasha continued through 1920. The next Mutasarrıf, Halil Bey, also carried on Bolu–Ankara relations carefully and without losing time. In 1921–1922, contact between Bolu and Mustafa Kemal was again kept up through telegraph talks. The news items in the Türkoğlu newspaper read as follows:

"Following the conferral of the title and rank of Gazi and Marshal, the honour-bearing telegram sent by His Excellency in reply to the congratulatory telegram addressed to the Commander-in-Chief Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha by the Presidency of the Bolu Youth Union is proudly printed in our columns below:

To the Presidency of the Bolu Youth Union,

I sincerely thank you for your congratulations.

28.09.1921

M. Kemal, President of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye and Commander-in-Chief

The Epic of Köroğlu

Epic hero and folk poet. His real name is Ali Ruşen. Although there are many different "accounts", there is no definite information about his life. However, the orders written in 1579–1581 to the Beylerbey of Anatolia for Köroğlu's capture, and his revolt against the Bey of Bolu in the same years, give clues to the existence of the epic hero. The poet Köroğlu's koçaklama (heroic poems) and güzelleme (love poems) hold an important place in folk poetry. He is a folk hero who became the subject of a famous epic. There was also a folk poet of this name who lived in the 16th century. But the real Köroğlu, whose historical identity cannot be known, lived in the Bolu area in the 17th century, and his fame later spread throughout Anatolia. He was known as Köroğlu ("son of the blind man") because his father was punished by the Bey of Bolu by having his eyes put out with a hot needle. His rising up against tyranny and protecting the people's rights made him an epic hero.

The 17th century was a time in Ottoman history when organisations not tied to the centre came fully into the open, while beys and governors attached to the palace and the grand vizier could, here and there, act as they pleased and oppress the people.

It was in such a time that Süleyman Bey, the Bey of Bolu, grew furious with one of the grooms who had served him for so many years and ordered his eyes to be put out with a hot needle. The Bey of Bolu was an extremely hard-hearted, cruel man. Although those who were fond of the groom intervened, he would not go back on his word. The poor groom, who had not carried out his order in time, was blinded, put on a scrawny horse and thrown out of the castle.

When the wounded groom found himself on horseback on the road, he leaned to the ear of his horse, which knew his voice very well, and said:

"The world has become a dungeon for me, take me to my village…"

They went a little, they went a long way, over streams and hills and plains, and at last they reached the groom's village. His fifteen-year-old son, seeing his father slumped on horseback coming from afar, understood his suffering like a seventy-year-old saint, ran to lift him down from the horse and brought him to his mother. The groom told them one by one, "This is how it was," and, charging his son to take revenge, gave up his soul there and then. Köroğlu mounted his horse at fifteen. The grey horse given to his father came alive, lost its scrawniness and became a splendid animal. Köroğlu leapt onto his horse and took to the mountains. He girded on a sword. He swore to avenge his father. He had taken the saz of a shepherd he met on the way and hung it behind his saddle. Whoever he met, he would stop his horse, take up his saz and, strumming it, tell of the Bey of Bolu's cruelty. He knew that one day he would come across this cruel man he was searching for everywhere. In time his horse became as swift as the wind. Wherever there was injustice, the villagers would send word to Köroğlu. He would come and put things in order.

One day he had stopped at Çamlıbel. He saw a caravan leader rob and beat a young man among his travellers and throw him over a cliff. With one stroke of his sword he cut off the caravan leader's head. The other men blessed him. The young traveller he pulled out of the cliff said:

"You saved my life, from now on I am your servant and slave." When Köroğlu learned that his name was Ayvaz and that the caravan was carrying goods to the Bey of Bolu, he took Ayvaz with him. They set off together.

Köroğlu and Ayvaz set out to find the cruel Bey of Bolu, who was ravaging the land and extorting the poor villagers. As they approached the city there was a castle. Early one morning they heard a sad song from the castle's battlements. With this song a young girl was tearfully telling that she was the daughter of the Bey of Bolu and that her father had shut her up there just so that she would love no one. Köroğlu took up his saz and told the girl to be patient, that he would rescue her on his way back. When they reached Bolu, people had gathered in a large square. Festivities were being held. Köroğlu changed his clothes and joined the wrestlers. He beat them all one by one. Finally the Bey of Bolu summoned him and said:

"Hey wrestler, who are you? I have made you chief of my guards…" And Köroğlu said, "I am the son of that groom whose eyes you had put out," and drawing his sword he struck off the Bey of Bolu's head before the horrified eyes of everyone, freeing the people from a tyrant. Then he immediately sent Ayvaz to bring the Bey's daughter from the castle. By God's command and the Prophet's word, he married her. From then on, as Bey of Bolu, he treated the people justly. These words of his have passed from mouth to mouth for centuries:

The Köroğlu folk song

Bizden selâm olsun Bolu Beyi’ne

Çıkıp şu dağlara yaslanmalıdır

Ok gıcırtısından, kalkan sesinden

Dağlar sada verip seslenmelidir

(Greetings from us to the Bey of Bolu; one must go up and lean against these mountains; at the creak of arrows and the sound of shields, the mountains must echo and call out.)

Düşman geldi tabur tabur dizildi

Alnımıza kara yazı yazıldı

Tüfek icat oldu mertlik bozuldu

Eğri kılıç kında paslanmalıdır.

(The enemy came and lined up battalion by battalion; a dark fate was written on our brow; the gun was invented and bravery was spoiled; the curved sword must rust in its sheath.)

Benden selam olsun Bolu Beyine

Çıkıp şu dağlara yaslanmalıdır

At kişnemesinden kargı sesinden

Dağlar seda verip seslenmelidir

(Greetings from me to the Bey of Bolu; one must go up and lean against these mountains; at the neighing of horses and the sound of lances, the mountains must echo and call out.)

Düşman geldi tabur tabur dizildi

Alnımıza kara yazı yazıldı

Tüfek icad oldu mertlik bozuldu

Eğri kılıç kında paslanmalıdır

(The enemy came and lined up battalion by battalion; a dark fate was written on our brow; the gun was invented and bravery was spoiled; the curved sword must rust in its sheath.)

Köroğlu düşer mi eski şanından

Ayırır çoğunu er meydanından

Kırat köpüğünden düşman kanından

Çevre dolup şalvar ıslanmalıdır

(Would Köroğlu fall from his old glory? He drives most of them from the field of battle; with Kırat's foam and the enemy's blood, the kerchief must fill and the trousers be soaked.)

Where does the name of Bolu province come from?

It was first called Bithynion, and in the Roman period Claudiopolis. When the Turks took it, they shortened the word Claudiopolis and called it just polis. Later this too changed in popular speech and became Bolu.

Bolu, close to many of the country's big cities, can be reached by road and, using the airports of nearby cities, by air. Bolu has no airport, but tourists coming from distant provinces can land at the airports in Istanbul, Kocaeli and Ankara and reach Bolu by road.

By road:

Reaching Bolu by road, on the Istanbul–Ankara route, is the easiest way. The Bolu Mountain Tunnel has made getting to the city much easier. Bus companies run direct services to Bolu from many cities. Besides the bus, you can also reach the city in your own car on a journey through nature.
Istanbul to Bolu: 262 kilometres, 3 hours 45 minutes
Ankara to Bolu: 191 kilometres, 2 hours 45 minutes
İzmir to Bolu: 595 kilometres, 8 hours 30 minutes
Bursa to Bolu: 273 kilometres, 3 hours 55 minutes
Antalya to Bolu: 690 kilometres, 9 hours 50 minutes

By air:

The nearest airport to Bolu is Kocaeli Cengiz Topel Airport, 145 kilometres away. Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen and Ankara Esenboğa airports are 200 kilometres from the city. After landing at these airports you can reach Bolu by hire car or by bus.

Farming, forestry and livestock long led Bolu's economy; in recent years industry and tourism have also gained importance. Besides cereals, hazelnuts, apples, pears and chestnuts are grown.

More than half the province is covered with forest, and timber and furniture production rely on this wealth. Wide meadows suit livestock, and flower-filled yaylas suit beekeeping. Abant, Yedigöller, Gölcük and the Kartalkaya ski centre make the province a centre of nature and winter tourism all year round.

Bolu's setting in the forest, its high altitude, its humidity and its clean, oxygen-rich air offer an ideal environment not only for its own people but also for athletes who cannot find these conditions in their own regions and for tourists who want to combine sport and tourism. Geographically, the area is ideal for mountain sports, outdoor sports, paragliding, training camps for professional teams, youth camps, and winter and summer sports.

With the features described above and its existing sports facilities, it has significant potential for football tourism. This makes it an ideal training-camp location for Turkish and foreign sports clubs. Every year many Turkish and foreign sports clubs hold camps in our province.

Sports tourism activities and where they take place

Paragliding : Abant area, Çele Tepesi.

Water sports: Aladağ Pond, Lake Yeniçağa.

Mountaineering: Kartalkaya, Köroğlu Mountains, Seben, Çele Tepesi.

Winter sports: Kartalkaya, Arkut Dağı.

Grass skiing: Esentepe.

Roller skiing: Esentepe.

Ornithology (birdwatching): Yedigöller, Abant, Sülüklü Göl, the Yeniçağa lakes.

Sport angling: the Abant, Gölcük, Yedigöller, Sünnet, Çubuk, Sülük, Karamurat, Karagöl and Yeniçağa lakes, and the Gölköy, Aladağ, Saraycık and Çayköy ponds.