Çal () is a municipality and

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Denizli Province Denizli Province () () is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey in Western Anatolia, on high ground above the Aegean coast. Neighbouring provinces are Uşak to the north, Burdur, Isparta, Afyon to the east, Aydın, Manisa to t ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its area is 860 km², and its population is 17,889 (2022). Çal district area occupies a central position in the northern part of its province and neighbors the district of

Pamukkale Pamukkale, () meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish language, Turkish, is a natural site in Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey. The area is famous for a carbonate mineral left by the flowing of Hot spring, thermal spring water. It is located in ...

to the south-west and the district areas of Güney to the west and Honaz to the south. To the east of Çal district lies clockwise the districts of Bekilli, Çivril and Baklan. The town of Çal is located north-east of the provincial seat of

Denizli Denizli is a city in Aegean Region, Aegean Turkey, and seat of the province of Denizli Province, Denizli. The city forms the urban part of the districts Merkezefendi and Pamukkale, Denizli, Pamukkale, with a population of 691 783 in 2024. Denizl ...

and is situated on a rocky hilltop overlooking a plain traced by

Büyük Menderes River The Büyük Menderes River ("Great Meander", historically the Maeander or Meander, from Ancient Greek: Μαίανδρος, ''Maíandros''; ), is a river in southwestern Turkey. It rises in west central Turkey near Dinar before flowing west thr ...

. The town lies at an altitude of .

General features

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

remains have been found in the area. Hançalar Bridge over Menderes River, at the level of the township of the same name, situated between Çal and Bekilli, is reminiscent of

bridges by its style, while the builder remains unknown. It was repaired and restored several times during the Ottoman era. The first Turks in the area were the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

in 1072, who settled in all parts of the present-day

, including Çal. The area is largely agricultural and is known especially for its

vineyards A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

. The local grape variety

Çalkarası Çal Karası is a variety of red wine grape from the Çal district of the Denizli Province of western Turkey. It also gives its name to a wine produced from the grape, which gives flavours of red berries, sour cherry, rhubarb, peppers, spice, an ...

and grown intensively and takes its name from the district. Çal also has an annual wine festival. There is also a cement factory, a fruit-juice factory and various cold-stores for fruit.

Composition

There are 34

neighbourhoods A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

in Çal District: * Akkent * Alfaklar * Aşağıseyit * Bahadırlar * Baklançakırlar * Bayıralan * Belevi * Çalçakırlar * Çalkuyucak * Dağmarmara * Dayılar * Denizler * Develler * Gelinören * Hançalar * Hüseyinler * İsabey * İsmailler * Kabalar * Kaplanlar * Karakaya *

Karapınar Karapınar, formerly known as Barta is a municipality and district of Konya Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,623 km2, and its population is 50,323 (2022). Volcanic Karapınar Field is located nearby. Composition There are 42 neighbourhoods i ...

* Kocaköy * Mahmutgazi *

Ortaköy Ortaköy (, ''Middle Village)'' is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Beşiktaş, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 9,121 (2024). It is on the European shore of the Bosphorus. it was originally a small fishing villag ...

* Peynirciler * Sakızcılar * Şapçılar * Sazak * Selcen * Süller * Yazır * Yeşilyurt * Yukarıseyit

Sakızcılar Falls and the "Weeping Stone"

A notable sight of interest are the

waterfalls A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several ...

near the depending village of Sakızcılar, on the slopes of the Mount Çal (''Çaldağı'') and at a distance of about when coming from

. Water of a stream that later joins Menderes River fall from 50 meters high at this locality and the whole area is covered with forests, making it a notable natural site. It is also a large

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

farm. The falls are alternatively called "Yeşildere Falls" or "Ağlayan Kaya" (''the weeping stone'').Not to be confused with the famous rock of the same name in

Mount Sipylus Mount Spil (), the ancient Mount Sipylus () (elevation ), is a mountain rich in legends and history in Manisa Province, Turkey, in what used to be the heartland of the Lydians and what is now Turkey's Aegean Region. Its summit towers over th ...

Manisa Manisa () is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province, lying approximately 40 km northeast of the major city of İzmir. The city forms the urban part of the districts Şehzadeler and Yunusemre, with ...

and associated with

Niobe Niobe (; : Nióbē) was in Greek mythology a daughter of Tantalus and of either Dione or of Eurythemista or Euryanassa. She was the wife of Amphion and the sister of Pelops and Broteas. Niobe is mentioned by Achilles in Homer's ''Iliad ...

Notable natives

The people of Çal acquired a fame for their astuteness and alertness in the region. They are hard-working and stubborn, and also raised crafty horsethieves in the past. There is an old regional saying that goes, ''if you put a snake in a sack with a man from Çal, the snake will beg to be taken out''. The renowned painter İbrahim Çallı was born here, as his name indicates. The award-winning author and poet Mahmut Alptekin is from Çal. He was born there and spent some of his childhood in Çal. The award-winning academic, psychiatrist and author Dr. Erol Göka is from Çal. The award-winning author and poet Hasan Ali Toptaş is from Çal.

Image gallery

Image:Adiguzel Dam Reservoir Usak-Denizli Turkey.jpg, Adıgüzel Dam Reservoir at Çal district border Image:Sakizcilar Waterfalls1 Cal Denizli Turkey.jpg, Sakızcılar Image:Sakizcilar Waterfalls2 Cal Denizli Turkey.jpg, Waterfalls

References

External links

A local news website

Website of the district of Çal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cal Populated places in Denizli Province Districts of Denizli Province Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey