Balıkesir
is a city in the Marmara region of Turkey and has a
population of 215,436. Its main exports are olive-based
products. It is a popular destination for both domestic and
foreign tourists, who use it as a base to explore the nearly
countryside which is renowned for its beauty, especially the
nearby Mount Ida (Kaz Dağı).At or
near Balıkesir was the Roman town of Hadrianutherae, founded,
as its name commemorates, by the emperor Hadrian.
Bandırma
(Greek: Πάνορμος
Panormos) is a district of Balıkesir Province of
Turkey. It is a town in the southern part of Marmara Island,
Turkey and the largest in Balıkesir Province.
Bandırma has an area of 690 km² and
borders Kapıdağ to the north, and Manyas to the south, Bird
Lake (Kuş Gölü) to the east, and Erdek to the west. The 2000
census put the population at 120,753 citizens, and according
to a 2005 estimate, the population was about 140,000.
Bandırma's twin town is Kamen, Germany.
Edremit
(Greek: Αδραμύτιο) is a district in Balıkesir
Province, Turkey, as well as the central city of that
district, on the west coast of Turkey, not far from the
Greek island Lesbos. It is situated at the tip of the gulf
of the same name (Gulf of Edremit), with its center a few
kilometers inland, and has central importance, especially as
a center for trade, over other cities and towns of the same
gulf (Ayvalık, Gömeç, Burhaniye and Havran). It is also one
of the biggest district centers of Balıkesir Province.
The Latin name for Edremit is
Adramyttium, mentioned in the New Testament (Acts 27:2),
as a city of Asia Minor on the coast of Mysia, which in
early times was called Æolis. The ship in which Paul
embarked at Caesarea belonged to this city (Acts 27:2). He
was conveyed in it only to Myra, in Lycia, whence he sailed
in an Alexandrian ship to Italy. It was a rare thing for a
ship to sail from any port of Judea direct for Italy. In the
19th century, the name Adramyti was used.
Edremit's economy relies largely on the
production of olives, as well as on tourism. Kaz Dağı
National Park, extending around the ancient Mount Ida, of
Homeric glory, is situated within the boundaries of Edremit
district and is an important tourist attraction with its
natural scenery and a number of pittoresque small villages
around it. In ethno-cultural terms, the population of
Edremit is a mixture of Balkan Turks, descendants of
immigrants from Aegean Islands, some Circassians, as well as
native Tahtacı Turkmens, who pursue their own traditions and
life-style to this day. A private museum of ethnography in
the village of Tahtakuşlar is one of the rare institutions
in Turkey focusing on Tahtacı culture. The district of
Edremit, especially around Kazdağı, is largely covered with
forests.
Erdek is a
district of Balıkesir Province of Turkey. Located on the
nort coast of Gulf of Erdek at the south of the Sea of
Marmara, Erdek is known as a friendly holiday destination
that is popular among domestic tourists. The area has rugged
geology and topography and evergreen wooded areas.
Arriving Erdek takes 20 minutes from
Bandırma, where locates an active ferry harbour that is
connecting Yenikapı Istanbul - Bandırma line. Erdek has 2
four-stars hotel, many more boarding houses and majorly
private property residential areas (summer houses, villas
...) Cafes at the seaside in city center are famous, and
also commercial facilities are sufficient.
Ayvalık (Ancient Greek: Κυδωνίαι, Greek:
Αϊβαλί or Κυδωνίες) is a seaside town in the
northwest Turkey. It is a district of Balıkesir province. It
was alternatively called (Κυδωνίες - Kidonies)
by the town's formerly important Greek population although
use of the name Ayvalık was widespread for centuries by both
Turks and Greeks (pronounced as Ayvali by the latter)
