On first glance, Ayvalık may seem unremarkable, a port town similar to many others in this region. But wander a few streets back from the waterfront and you’ll discover an old Greek village in spirited abandon. Colourful shuttered doors conceal boutique hotels in restored stone houses, mosques converted from Greek Orthodox churches welcome the faithful to prayer and historic cafes full of locals line hidden squares. Put simply, it’s got Aegean ambience in spades.
Ayvalik was an important trade centre during Ottoman times, it had an autonomous status and even many European powers setted up consulates. The city then was almost completely inhabited by Greeks, who were exchanged with Turks from Crete when a population swap was mandated between governments of Turkey and Greece in 1923. The fusion of local Greek and Cretan cultures caused the character of today’s Ayvalik: while most of the physical historical heritage is clearly Greek, the everyday culture lived on the streets between those buildings, including the local food, is mainly Cretan.
Ayvalik’s ancient name was Kydonia. Although both Kydonia and Ayvalik means ‘the place of quince’, the city is rather known for (and indeed surrounded by) a seemingly endless forest formed by olive trees. The region’s olive-oil production is centred on Ayvalık, and there are plenty of shops selling the end product. The broken chimneys in the town centre belonged to now-abandoned olive-oil factories; these days local production occurs on the edge of town.
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