HaveYouBeenHere - A Short Vacation In Ayvalık - Balıkesir,Part III : Cunda Island
Hello friends,
The next stop of our trip was Cunda Island. You can reach Cunda island in about 20 minutes from Sarımsaklı Beach. You pass through two separate bridges, one of which Turkey's first, and perhaps even the world's first such bridge which connect an island to mainland. When we look historically, Cunda Island is a place where mainly Greek fishermen lived in the Ottoman period. For this reason, it is quite possible to see Greek writings on the houses. Of course, depending on the historical development, I have to say that there is a statue of a commander who served in Turkiye Army during our War of Independence and was martyred and also historical mosques. Actually i just saw only one. :)
In Cunda, the roads were built by paving stones, remaining faithful to the old state, and because there is a ban on the demolition of old houses, the houses are still in the war of liberation and historical buildings dating back to earlier times. Every house has flowers in its garden. Likewise, the island's bazaar is paved with stones. In the bazaar, souvenirs, summer clothes and accessories that remind Cunda, some local and trendy clothes and accessories are sold. The streets are chirping and there are flowers everywhere. I can say that it is a complete seaside town. However, there are many fish restaurants and cafes in Cunda.
2 of them attract my attention. The place I saw in the first square, where many evil eye beads were hung on the tree nearby, and the place called "Stone Coffee", which was very famous and photographed by thousands of Turkish photographers, were really worth seeing. If you happen to be in Cunda Island, I definitely recommend you to drink Turkish coffee in "Taş Kahve". You will feel the taste of freshly ground Turkish coffee and the prices are quite affordable. By the way, I do not recommend gummy ice cream that much. I've eaten much better ones.
My wife taking some pictures and my daughter sitting on the chair and doing something,i don't know what :)
I will bring this subject back to the agenda in my future travel articles. Towards the end of the beach in Cunda, there is a large Konak at the end of the harbor. According to what he wrote on it, "Greek Despot's Mansion", but since it was turned into a hotel, I could not go inside and take photos. As far as I researched on the internet, Despot brought the money he earned from the people's joyful donations on the day Greece became a state, to Cunda, its birthplace. He built this building in 1862 with some of this money. The Despot kept some of his wealth while living a comfortable life with the money he brought with him.
When the hidden treasure of the Despot spread among the people, the thieves started to make plans to own the treasure. The thieves who came home in 1877 squeezed the Despot to tell the place of the gold, but they did not learn anything. Then he killed the Despot and took all the Ottoman lira, along with the gold, silver and valuable items they found in the house, and fled. After the death of Despot, the Ottoman Empire purchased the Despot House from the Church and started using it as a Government Building. Despot House, the property of the Ottoman Empire, started to be used by the public as an orphanage since September 1921. When the Greeks left the region with the victory of the War of Independence, the Turks used the same building as both a primary school and an orphanage until 1980. As you can see right now, it was recently restored and used as a hotel.
Mansion of the Greek Despot
Friends, I have come to the end of my travel article. But it's not over yet !! :) By the way, I suggest you try the mastic pudding in Cunda. I forgot to write. However, I searched the word meaning of the despot. Orthodox Greeks' religious leaders are called Despot. By the way, I read the story of Despot Mansion somewhere on the internet and I wrote it here in the way I remember it, provided the dates are the same. The reason for this is that I could not find any information about the structure. I could not find the opportunity to go inside and take a photo anyway. :( I hope you like my article and if you like pleas upvote and share!!
Take care yourself and have a nice day everyone...!
Everything you can see in this article is belongs to me. Pictures,Writings and maybe sometimes Drawings,all of them belongs to me. If not,it is remarked before the article.