Day 11: Babakale; the most western point of Turkiye at main land

two lighthouses of Babakale welcoming the passengers of Aegean Sea
the land we see at the horizon is a Greek island, Midilli (Lesvos)

Babakale is a small fishing village at the very western point of Turkiye. As I've mentioned before, Gökceada is the western most border of Turkiye. You can read my blog post about Gokceada from here:Gökçeada. Babakale is the most western at main land because of the pysical shape of the land.

Babakale is at the south west of Çanakkale city

Through my journey, I wanted to feel being at this very west but also heard about its castle and delicious local calamary which gets caught daily by fishermen of the village.

Babakale Castle

Babakale is a village founded by Ottomans around 1723. Before the village it's said that one of the Ottoman generals of a navy ship died during they anchored in front of this cape and the soldiers had to barry him to this cape and after that they started calling this cape Baba Burnu which means Dad's Cape. In turkish culture the impression of a father is strong, protective, strict and also like a teacher. So it shouldn't make you feel odd to read the relation between a general and a father for the soldiers who left their lives to his hands. After this, because of the prite attacks to the land Ottomans decided to built a castle to this cape and called it Babakale which also means Dad's castle uniting the two names. The village founded after the castle. Today, most of the houses are rebuilt but there remained a hamam, turkish bath from that times which needs to be restorated immediately. The old ladies of the town told me that it was still working when they were little girls.

the Ottoman hamam needs a restoration immediately

As the village is very small, it is very easy to access to nature and have walks around the village at the afternoons. The days I was there were the hotest days of summer so I had to wait for late afternoon to walk around. First inside the village and then around it...

the beach is at the end of the harbour and the water is very clear

As they live beside the sea, they live with the sea. Because of this, fishing is the main living style here. Of course they all thank to the fertility of the Aegean Sea and Babakale is very famous with its calamary and octopus.

Babakale certificate

When you come to Babakale, at any place you eat or stay, they give you this certificate mostly as a memory of this beautiful fishing village.