I love traveling off season. Locals unburdened by the crowds of customers are happy to chat with you. And you are not destructed from the main purpose of traveling and simply being — eating.
In October when the summer is long gone you can still enjoy Turkish seaside. Ayvalık, a town on the Aegean coast is a great choice if you travel for the same cause as I do. Located right one the shore and overlooking Greek Islands Ayvalık is renown in Turkey for the finest olive oil. Hard to go wrong with food if olive oil is good. Good olive oil obliges: its making is a family tradition of paying respects to the mother earth and knowing how to make good sense of its produce.
Who Doesn’t Dream of Living in an Old Greek House?
We arrived to Ayvalık on a sunny and windy day happy to leave the rain and clouds in Istanbul — somewhere 600 km behind us. According to the directions we had received from the hotel we took the main road, Atatürk Caddesi, and drove past the small town rush and sounds of the rehearsing school orchestra. Next to an otopark (parking) to the left there was an old Greek house with lilac balconies — Eolya (11 Sokak No.11), the boutique hotel we booked.
Erinç, the hotel owner, appeared at the doorstep to welcome us: smiling, energetic and gracious she was very much a metaphor for the place itself. The old Greek house converted into the little hotel was full of details and coming together as a symphony. Cozy four rooms — white with the tasteful splashes of bright colors — looked so serene that I immediately decided to come back in summer. The bed was comfy, the terry towels were soft and the breakfast at Eolya was prepared with much love and care. Why we have not come to Ayvalık earlier?
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Movie Scenes, Female Cooperatives and Olive Oil Shops
Ayvalık quickly proved to be our kind of place: you can get lost at its winding old streets and spend many wonderful hours finding your way back. There is a lot to discover in the past grandeur and current decay — both very much visible on the facades of the old Greek stone mansions. Some repaired and turned into pensions, some in the process of uplift, some with chained door handles awaiting their turn. Scenes dragging movie crews and retiring urbanites who appreciate the vintage look and calm of Ayvalık. «This one is just sold out», said an old lady running her errands at a backyard as she spotted us peeking into a neighboring house.
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«Have you noticed that all the streets lead to the sea?» — Özgür got nostalgic: he grew up by the sea too. — «Sea is everything is such towns». Fishermen boats docked right by the harbor bars, houses with large doors on the ground floors indicating that once they served as storage areas for traded goods or even as boat repair workshops.
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Just like many seaside towns Ayvalık feels very «female» while women running shops, eateries and tea houses (go, find one in Istanbul) while men are mostly busy in the sea catching mermaids and other fish. We paid a visit to two female cooperatives. One is more of a local female hobby group where they teach embroidery, knitting and sewing to the local women. You can support their activities by buying some crafts made by the women. This is where I fetched lovely hand crochet placemats — sort of a Turkish grandma legacy.
The other venture Cop (M)adam, or Garbage Lady (Ali Bey Cami Caddesi No.1), is a undertaking of an American social worker Tara Hopkins (now secured support of such giants as Unilever and Sabanci University). Cop (M)adam gives opportunity of paid labor to those women who never worked outside their households. The idea is brilliant: they transform plastic waste into trendy accessories which are sold at some fancy Istanbul shops. I felt good about contributing directly without any middleman involved: I beam with joy every time I use my «recycled» colorful kitchen apron and a little purse for coins.
As the shopping spree continues we find out that shops at Ayvalık are indeed many. Many put a list of what they have outside. Almost all sell famous Ayvalık olive oil. A few sell unidentifiable things. Some don’t sell things at all. We stopped by one as I started entertaining an idea of converting canvas sacks meant for olives into rustic placemats. The product range of the shop was beyond any comprehension — garden appliances, items for olive harvesting, tins for olive oil and a massive range of old junk. Empty Jack Daniel’s bottles, little hand-painted wooden cart, old copper flask. I got my canvas sack and a clasped weft-weaven rug. Did not fancy old Jack Daniel’s bottles. And old copper flask was not for sale.
Morsel by Morsel
On the culinary front Ayvalık keeps the gentle balance between authenticity and comforts of an established resort destination. Most of the local eateries have been discovered by the tourists but this has not deteriorated the standard as locals will still be frequenting those.
With a short stroll along the city center we immediately located a strategic landmark — two famous Ayvalık pastry shops head to head competing for the hearts of the local sweet tooths. We first checked out Güler Tatlıhanesi (Talatpaşa Caddesi No.45) for their mastic flavored olive oil cookies (zeytinyağlı kurabiye). How genius is that to use two local Ayvalık (and so Greek, between you and me) ingredients such as mastic, resin obtained from the mastic tree, and olive oil to make delicious melting-in-your-mouth morsels?!
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Impressed we proceeded to Imren Pastanesi (Talatpaşa Caddesi No.41) for lor tatlısı which appeared to have the look and taste of Indian gulab jamun — or a spongy ball soaked in sugar syrup. In summer both pastry shops serve house ice-cream yet the off season advantage is that you can actually grab a seat and make a great high tea stop of either. Or of both.
We then stumbled upon a cozy coffee shop Tarlakusu Gurmeko (Cumhuriyet Caddesi, No.53) — a cozy organic shop and cafe with a sweet microscopic kitchen. In the anticipation of our Turkish coffee and winter herbal tea I saw large jars imprisoning what I thought to be pickled fruits. «Aren’t they?» I asked the shopkeeper. He smiled, «These are home-made liqueurs. This lemon is still being made but let me see if the cherry is ready». It was so we enjoyed viscid and fruity cherry liquor with our hot beverages.
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Another mid-day stop at Ayvalık was definitely Seytanın Kahvesi (Devil’s Coffee House) called so by the nickname of the owner. Decaying facade with the grapes framing it has some mystic to it indeed. The sign outside was very suggestive, «Season of green grape juice«. Koruk suyu, or juice made of unripe grapes is a specialty of the place. Otherwise it’s great quite spot to have a glass of tea, observe local men gossiping and local women coming and going to the Cop(m)adam office.
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At lunch we peeked our noses into the home cooking of Ayvalık. We went around inspecting a whole bunch of ev yemekleri, little places usually run by women and featuring yum and inexpensive treats. We eventually sat down at Hanim Ablanin Yeri and delicious creamy chicken soup was a sure highlight of our stay — simple and glorious. Kabak çiçeği dolması (stuffed zucchini flowers, a real Aegean specialty) is really worth coming back for when in season.
Unfortunate Take on Dinner
The evening dining stakes were higher. An off season challenge at such a resort town as Ayvalık is to find restaurants which are as good as they are in season. I have to admit we failed this mission on our first evening at Ayvalik. We went with a recommendation of a foreign food writer who contributed to a wonderful book on Turkish food. And regretted it.
I promised myself many times not to trust any opinions about meyhanes (taverns often dubbed at fish restaurants and quite mistakenly so). People naturally get merry there and then write hymns to frankly very mediocre food.
That was what happened to that writer in Ayvalik I believe: the place she recommended Hüsnü Baba made for the worst meyhane experience we ever had. Over-vinegarish starters (to increase their shell life, I reckon) and over deep-fried hamsi were impressive only in its misery. I can only hope that in season Hüsnü Baba is more up to the generous superlatives but something tells me that if the place can’t keep the standard throughout the year you can’t expect much during the high season either.
Second night we decided to have dinner on the Cunda island: it’s only a short drive away from Ayvalık but definitely deserves a dedicated post.
