Day 33: Ayvalık, land of islands

Ayvalık on map

islands of Ayvalık

Ayvalık is a town near Aegean Sea. Its roots go back to antique Greek. Its old name was Kydonia which means a wild kind of quince. "Ayva" also means quince in turkish and "Ayvalık" means where quince grows. Today there are not so much quince around Ayvalık. Most seen trees around are olive and pine trees as the rest of this area. Ayvalık is also known as the land of islands as it has 22 big and small islands belonging to itself. Some of these islands have habitats but most of them don't.

Before 1920's, Ayvalık was mostly a Greek town but after the Turkish War of Independence depending to the Population Exchange Law its population had been changed with turkish citizens coming from Greek island Lesbos and Crete and Macedonia. Now the third generation of these habitans are living in Ayvalık. Because the average of age is very high, it is very usual to hear a dead announcement from the town's mosques nearly everyday. People of Ayvalık say that Ayvalık is famous with three things; cats, deaths and insane people. I haven't noticed any insane person on the streets but at the top of the hill of Ayvalık, there is a rehab center.

cats waiting for the fishermen

Ayvalık still has its old time houses

For my opinion Ayvalık is a beautiful town with all its old houses, island views, friendly cats and beautiful sunsets. But still it is away from being a touristic town. First of all there are no beaches around the town. To swim, you have to go to islands or beaches away from the town city. The temperature of the water is low, around 18-20 degrees and the sea is shallow. But despite all these there are very famous spots for divers around Ayvalık. Especialy rich coral reefs and remains of old time sunken ships are very popular for underwater photographers.

sunset from Ayvalık