Isparta: the lake district and roses of Turkey

Known as Turkey's rose capital, Isparta remains surrounded by volcanic lakes and plantations that supply the world perfume industry.

A car remains useful for exploring the lake region.

The rose plantations of Isparta, which supply much of the global perfume industry, come alive each May with a celebrated Damascus rose festival.

Just minutes away, Lake Eğirdir, among Turkey's largest freshwater lakes, hosts an island connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus.

Moving toward the Lake Gölcük crater, formed in an extinct volcano, you walk through pine forests surrounded by towering rock walls.

In the evening, Isparta markets sell rose water and essential oil distilled using traditional techniques passed down through generations.

Isparta produces approximately sixty percent of the world's rose oil, distilled from damask roses cultivated in the region's fields and used by major European and particularly French perfumery houses.

Lake Eğirdir, with its own island connected by an artificial causeway, hosts a small fishing village that lives almost entirely from summer tourism, with stone houses restored for guests.