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Foça (FOH-chah),
called Phocaea in
ancient times, is a popular Turkish Aegean seaside
resort town north of Izmir
(map).
There are actually two towns here:
Eski Foça (Old
Foça) and Yeni Foça
(New Foça). Eski Foça,
usually just called Foça, is the larger
of the two, seated beside two small
bays and a fine small harbor that has
been in use by skillful mariners since 600
BC.
Phocaea's mariners explored the Black,
Aegean and Mediterranean seas in their
50-oar ships, founding colonies at
Samsun, in Corsica, Italy, France and
Spain.
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Monk seal
statue
in Foça |
Today the mariners are mostly yachters,
pleasure-boaters and windsurfers, both
Turkish and foreign, as well as visitors
who come in hopes of spotting one of
the rare Mediterranean monk seals (fok) that
gather on the small islands offshore.
Foça has surprisingly
little to show for so much history:
two small fortresses, Beşkapılar and
Dışkale, dating from Byzantine,
Genoese and Ottoman times;
a few Hellenic ruins
here and there; a monumental
tomb 7
km east of the town center; a bit of aqueduct.
The ruins are a sideshow to the main
reason for a visit: to enjoy the seaside
atmosphere, the old Ottoman-Greek houses
fronted by open-air restaurants lining
the shore of the Küçük
Deniz ("Small Sea," the
northern part of the bay); and the
fishing boats anchored in the Büyük
Deniz ("Big Sea," to
the south).
Accommodations are mostly cozy
pensions and
charming boutique
hotels and villas. Use this
Hotel Search Box to
find hotels in and around Foça:
Transport to and
from Foça is
by car or frequent minibus to Izmir,
and less frequent buses northward along
the coast to Dikili, Bergama, Ayvalık and Çanakkale.
More...
There's also summer
passenger ferry service to the Greek
island of Lesbos
(Mytileni). More...
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