Difference between revisions of "Alaçatı"

Revision as of 15:50, 13 August 2010

Alaçatı (pronounced aa-LAA-chaa-tuh) is a village in Central Aegean, just east of Çeşme, on the peninsula jutting out into the Aegean Sea.

Understand

Formerly named Agrilia and inhabited by local Greeks until 1920s, Alaçatı was long forgotten until 1990s when it started to attract Turkish intellectuals yearning for a peaceful, rural haven. Since 2000s, it is much trendier and has a wider visitor profile, which includes many windsurfers.

Get in

By bus

Buses departing from Izmir's otogar heading for Çeşme—the principal town of the peninsula—calls at Alaçatı. The buses are run by Çeşme Seyahat (☎ +90 232 716-82-99, [1]. ), with one and a half hour intervals between 06:30AM and 7:30PM during off-season, most likely more frequent during summer.

There are also minibuses (dolmuş) from Çeşme, and Ilıca.

By car

Alaçatı lies very close to O-31, a motorway (toll-road) with 2-lanes per direction linking Izmir with Çeşme. It takes around 45 minutes to get to the village from Izmir, which lies 70 km east of Alaçatı.

The village lies 8 km east of Çeşme.

Get around

The beach on the windsurfing cove, which lies about 2 km south of village, is connected to village centre by minibuses (dolmuş).

See

• Local architecture. Perhaps the main attraction of the village, all of the village's old parts consist of very well preserved local Greek architecture of stone buildings lining cobbled streets.

• Windmills. Ancient windmills dating back to 19th century on the top of the hill overlooking the village. Windmills themselves are shadowed by much taller modern electricity-generating wind turbines.

• Babylon Alacati beach - the best private beach in Alacati, preferred by Istanbullers [2]

Do

• Windsurfing. The cove of Alaçatı lies on the leeward side of this much windy peninsula in Turkey's western tip, which means lots of wind but no visible waves towards the coast—perfect for windsurfing! There are some schools offering windsurfing training on the beach.

Buy

Eat

Kumru - a local tasty sandwich that is made with a special Kumru bread. The original sandwich has a rich stuffing of salami, sucuk (Turkish sausage), cheese and tomato; however a vegetarian alternative also exists, if you ask for it. Most famous kumru place is Kumrucu Sevki at Cesme center.

Pide - Turkish pizza, available at everywhere, and tasty most probably, but you should definitely taste the ones at Babylon Alacati beach.

Fish - Definitely there are many alternatives for fish restaurants in Alacati and around Cesme. Dalyan is a very close small town where locals prefer to dine in. Do not forget to try Turkish raki with fish.

Ice cream - Cesme Veli Usta is the best place to have an ice-cream. There are lots of flavors available, balbadem (honey and almond)and black currant are the most favorite flavors.

Drink

Sleep

• Taş Hotel, Alaçatı. A boutique hotel.

• Imerek Otel, Yenimecidiye Mahallesi, 3048 Sokak no: 9, Alaçatı, ☎ +90 232 716-69-68 (neslinal@gmail.com), [3]. A hotel housed in a historical building, offering rooms with air-con, en-suite bathrooms, wireless internet access.

Contact

Telephone code of the village is (+90) 232.

Get out

• Ilıca, with its hot springs discharging from the sea floor just next to a beach, lies on the northern coast of the peninsula, close to Alaçatı.