I am trying to reminisce past travels again. It always happen especially if I browse photo albums from those trips. Last night, I was browsing some snapshots I took from Ayvalik. As you can see in my snapshot here, it is a seaside town. It is located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Edremit, part of Aegean Sea, across from the eastern coast of Greek island of Lesvos. It is a district of the Balıkesir Province in Turkey.

Turkey.Ayvalik.SAM_0258.© RB Photography
The Seaside Town of Ayvalik, Turkey during our holiday last 2011. 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.

There is one thing I cannot forget while we were walking along the seaside of Ayvalik. One Turkish guy, probably around his 60’s approached  and was asking if we were Aleman or German. We answered yes!  He further said that he was before in Berlin, Germany as a guest worker.  He also said that Germans  have nice cars and houses. I just smiled when he was talking about  it which was also true.

Our tour guide dropped us in Ayvalik for a quick sightseeing. After around  an hour  walk around the seaside, the bus with our tour guide picked us up again.

That afternoon we also visited a nearby hilltop which is known as  the Devil’s Table  or Şeytan Sofrası in Turkish.  It is a rock on which has a large footprint-like hollow, which is said, according to the local folklore, to be Devil’s footprint he left when he was “jumping” over to Lesvos. It has a wonderful view of the coves and islands below.

If we had enough time that day, I would love to explore more the historic places in this town. That was quite a very interesting day in Ayvalik.  We stayed in Ayvalik Beach Club that night.  I guess it is a 3 or 4 star hotel in this area.