Upon arriving in Ayvalik you could be forgiven for believing you were in a Greek town. The pastel and white washed buildings that dot the winding maze of cobbled streets are everything you would expect from a Greek town, yet Ayvalik is actually in Turkey.
Located on Turkey’s Aegean coast, at one stage you would have been correct in assuming this was a Greek town. Until 1923 Avyalik was almost entirely inhabited by Greeks until a population swap took place between Turkey and Greece – almost a century later there is still a huge amount of Greek influences seen in all aspects of daily life.
As with many of my favourite travel destinations, getting to Ayvalik was not the easiest of feats. First there was a rather long bus ride that ended when we were dropped off in the middle of no-where and loaded into a smaller van, as large buses will not fit in the towns narrow streets. After 30 minutes whipping along in a somewhat overcrowded van we made it to our destination, the seaside vibes were immediately obvious and after a few days of hectic travel through Turkey I was definitely up for some relaxation! Finally we were dumped out of the van onto the main street and told the final leg of the journey will be taken on foot. Thankfully the streets in Ayvalik are beautiful and full of character so I spent half the walk gushing over the sights around me and the rest trying to capture it on my camera.
After trekking up far too many hills, under the beating heat of a midday sun, we finally made it to what would be home for the night – Taksiyarhis Pension, a quaint bed and breakfast type accommodation which had the most amazing views out across the town (which made it so easy to roll out of bed to watch the sunrise!). The family who run Takisiyarhis were incredibly kind and made us feel so welcome in their home, even treating us to a delicious traditional Turkish breakfast on the balcony in the morning.
After putting down our bags and catching our breath for a few minutes we decided to head further up the hilly streets and caught a wonderful view of the town in all directions. But all that walking took it’s toll and it was time for a bit of downtime – we took up residence for the afternoon at a family run, local cafe called Seytanin Kahvesi which has been run by the same family since the 1800’s. We sipped on refreshing Turkish lemonade and coffee before taking another stroll around the town, with me falling in love with every doorway we passed.
The evening was spent exploring the small island nearby, Cunda. You can either jump on a ferry or one of the many taxi’s, the Greek influence are evident everywhere here and there are plenty of markets to wander, cat’s to meet and seafront restaurants to enjoy. We watched the sunset over the harbour while stuffing our faces with ice cream, couldn’t get much better than that!Despite never having heard about Ayvalik before my visit to Turkey it remains one of my favourite places in the whole country. These small, unexpected and unassuming towns always seem to be what I am drawn to when travelling, and I’m so glad I got to spend some time exploring, and falling in love with Ayvalik. If you are ever in Turkey I highly recommend you get yourself there, and if you are after some more inspiration check out my guide on the unexpected things to do in Turkey!
Morag says
Very nice to stumble upon your blog. I am a Kiwi married to a Turk and have been visiting Ayvalik for 23 years. My mother in law has a summer house there. A few more tourists these days but still not Marmaris thank god. I’ll be back in Ayvalik in less than 2 weeks and am looking forward to it so much.