Ayvalik

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Introducing Ayvalik

Ayvalık (meaning Quince Orchard) is a seaside resort, fishing town, olive oil- and soap-making centre, and a terminus for boats to and from the Greek island of Lesvos. The coast is cloaked in pine trees and olive groves, and the offshore waters sprinkled with islands. But there has also been some unfortunate high-rise development, especially around Sarımsaklı.

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Ayvalık is also proud of the fact that it was here that the first shot of the Turkish War of Independence was fired. Until after WWI the town was inhabited by Ottoman Greeks, but during the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey in 1923, Ayvalık’s Turkish-speaking Greeks went to Greece, and Greek-speaking Turks came here from Lesvos, the Balkans and Crete. A few locals still speak Greek, and most of the local mosques are converted Orthodox churches: the Saatlı Camii was once the church of Agios Yannis (St John); Çınarlı Camii used to be the Agios Yorgos (St George) church.

Olive-oil production is still big business around here, and lots of shops sell the end product. The skyline is studded with the tall brick chimneys of abandoned olive-oil factor­ies. One such factory now houses the Tansaş supermarket.

Last updated: Mar 2, 2009

Thorn Tree forum discussion

Recent posts

  1. ayseD avatar
    Re: Greece & Greek islands Photos

    by ayseD 30 August 2011

    Hello Julien, I loved your pictures. I'm planning a trip to Greece for next summer with my family and want to visit Santorini and Paros.…
  2. mariha2912 avatar
    RE: Advice for 11 days in Greece

    by mariha2912 30 August 2011

    Hello Jbeezy71 ! Glad my post was of some help. Note that from Turkey, you can either flight from Instabul to Athens, either take a ferry…
  3. AnnaliFloris avatar
    Re: Transport from Ayvalik to Istanbul?

    by AnnaliFloris 24 August 2011

    Thank you so much, Sarikanarya! This was really helpful. Got all the info from the websites and everything seems fine for our trip! Annal…

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