Ayvalik

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.

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