Safranbolu

About 300 kilometers east of Istanbul is the small UNESCO World Heritage listed town of Safranbolu, so named because it is one of the few places in the world that produces saffron.  The town was built mainly during the height of the Ottoman empire and reflects the classic Ottoman architecture of half-timbered stucco houses.  Set in a narrow valley, the old town is a microcosm - a step back in time, with mainly tourist shops aimed at the mainly Turkish tourists. Think rough cobblestone streets, vine covered alleyways, tea shops and bakeries....and lokum shops (Turkish delight).
This from Helena on our 7 hour bus ride (!!!) getting here:

Turkish buses don't have onboard toilets. This is good and bad. If you are used to keeping yourself hydrated during the day you need to prepare when faced with a 7 hour+ journey that has unclear stopping times/frequency. As it turned out we were able to pop out several times during the journey "just in case" as the potential discomfort was daunting. It really dawned on us how big the city is seeing as it took us 2 hours to reach the city limit. A bit less than half-way we stopped at a rest station just as you know them in the west. I was astonished to note many differences along the road and this modern rest-stop was so different from the rustic stations of 15 years ago when I was last on a Turkish bus. Here you have the same kinds of tacky souvenirs and overpriced food as the west, but all Turkish. We stocked up on nuts and dates and water. There was some pretty interesting landscape and mountain ranges visible during our journey. Toward the end of our journey we came over a huge high plateau where the air was fresh, cold in the dusk, and dry before heading down toward the coast and our little valley of Safranbolu. We put up in a 300 year old Ottoman house (as they all are here) and our room was typical with a carved wood ceiling and a closet toilet/shower combo which as bright and clean but I can't say that Elizabeth was particularly enamored of our "squatty" toilet. We decided to deal with it and that was fine for a couple nights.