Foça





Yenifoça is 20 km from Foça. Most tourists visit Foça or Eski Foça ( Old Foca ) because Yenifoça is made up of holiday homes for Turkish citizens and offers very little to attract the foreign tourists.

Foça is a popular tourist resort on the Aegean coast. In ancient times it would have been known as Phocaea. Located just 69 km from Izmir people often get confused between Foça and Yenifoça ( New Foca ). They are both two separate towns but nearby to each other.

Foça is situated across two small bays and has a beautiful fishing harbour. Phocaea was orginally founded by the ancient Greeks. It get its name from the local seal populations which thrived on the nearby islands. There is a statue of a monk seal in Foça as a reminder of its history. Unfortunately numbers of Monk Seals have dwindled and there are only around 400 monk seals left globally.

Foça has a very distinct Greek Aegean feel to it but this should come as no surprise because many of the towns and cities along the Turkish Aegean coast are of Greek origin. Despite Foça’s rich history with the Greeks, Byzantines and Genoese, it has little to show for it in the way of any significant ruins.

Foça is a delightful town to just chill and wine and dine. The pretty restaurants, bars and souvenir shops are very picturesque. There are also some good beaches around with Blue Flag status and the coves and small bays with their crystal clear waters make Foça the ideal place to unwind. There are a number of good hotels which range from budget guest house accommodation to Boutique Hotel status. Foça tends to be a little expensive by Turkish standards but the quality is generally exceptional.

Under the watchful eye of the windmills on the hill there are boat tours and diving schools which ply their trade along the seafront. The beautiful cobbled streets of the town and its fascinating old stone houses should be leisurely explored to fully appreciate the beauty that this town has to offer. A stroll along the sea front promenade by the castle walls during the cool evening is highly recommended.

There are several small islands around Foça. Two of them were mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey. Orak and Incir are the Sirens Rocks, a place where sailors would lose their way and become distracted by the whispering mystical voices of the Sirens.


					

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