Edremit: The City of Olive Oils and the Color of Blue

Edremit is one of the most beautiful district of Balıkesir city in the Aegean side of Turkey where I also spent my entire summers when I was a kid. It is the perfect place to calm your mind and it is also the best place to heal your soul and your body since it is the land of oxygen, olive oils and water. The history is also a great part of the city, since Edremit's story dates back BC 1443. Back at that time Edremit was known as Adramytteion. Since the district has an amazing location, this ancient city was destroyed by invasions. The city gets its name from the King of Lydia's (the kingdom who found money) brother Adramys. In Edremit, there are two main parts that you can visit. The first part is Akçay, where is the young population hang out and known by its cold water springs inside of the sea and Altınoluk, where you can get everything with olive oil and swim in the beautiful sea.

Whole city is covered with hundreds of years old Olive trees and scrubs. The best time to visit Edremit is summer, if you want to enjoy the sea and the sun. And due to all these olive trees, the oxygen levels are very high which gives the sky the perfect blue. When I was a child my grandfather had a summerhouse in Edremit so I could spend my entire summer there. I remember having the perfect skin there just because of the air! I had the perfect tan and always had a bright, healthy skin. Even one of our neighbours who had lung cancer lived more than 10 years even the doctors told him he could only live 6 months. And of course a healthy diet with lots of olive oil would help with that too. But if you want to enjoy more oxygen, your first stop should be the Kazdağı Milli Parkı which is Kazdağı National Park on the mountains of Kaz. This mountain also called as İda, so don't get confused if you see that name too. Up there, you can enjoy every shades of green, have a wonderful walk, enjoy the sweet smelling air and swim in the cold spring waters. The water is also clean which makes it drinkable. It is one of the heavens on earth.

You can also get to see the Hasan Boğuldu pond which is a pond that has a sad story. Legend says, once upon a time there was a boy named Hasan and girl named Emine who loved each other greatly. They wanted to get married but in order to do that he had to do very hard tasks. One day he was asked to carry a big bag of salt from his village to another village, and due to traditions Emine also had to go with him. After some time carrying the salt bag in a very hot day of Edremit, Hasan's back started to burn due to salt he was carrying. But Emine thought that Hasan can make it till the village so she started to walk ahead of Hasan. After some while Hasan fell into that pond and drowned immediately but since Emine was far ahead she didn't realize that Hasan was drowned. After a while she realized that Hasan was not following her, so she rushed down all the way back and found the scarf that she gave Hasan as a gift, swimming on the pond. She couldn't bare the pain so she took the scarf and hang herself one of the Plane tree over there. And the pond was named after Hasan and called "Hasan Boğuldu" which means Hasan is drowned.

Second stop should be the Antandros Ancient City! This ruins of ancient city is also stands on one of the hills of the mountain İda (Kaz). This open air museum is also only 2 km away from Altınoluk. This ancient city's history dates back to the great Troy War. And there is also a part of the city is under water which makes it perfect for people who loves going underwater .

If you love ethnographic museums, you should visit Ayşe Sıdıka Erke Ethnography Museum. Inside the museum you can get to see the gadgets, machines that the local people used throughout the years. Especially there are lots of cultural aspects of Edremit from 18th and 19th Century.

Another important place to visit is Güre Hot Springs if you are into Turkish bath or just hot springs. This hot springs are the cure of many diseases such as; arthrolith, psoriasis, thyroid and gynaecological disease since the water is full with minerals. There are also lots of thermal hotels that you can stay or use the hot springs of it. That was also one of my beauty secrets to have a healthy skin, I used to go there to have a bath once a week with the olive oil soaps which was also produced there. But be careful, the water is around 40-58 celsius!

Kaz Dağları Milli Parkı

Pınarbaşı Mahallesi, Kazdagi Milli Parki, 10300 Edremit/Balıkesir, Türkiye

Hasan Boğuldu

Kazdağı Milli Parkı, 10300 Mehmetalanı Köyü/Edremit/Balıkesir, Türkiye

Antandros Ancient City

Altınoluk Mahallesi, 10870 Edremit/Balıkesir, Türkiye

Ayşe Sıdıka Erke Edremit Ethnography Museum

Soğanyemez, Yılmaz Akpınar Blv. 12a, 10300 Edremit/Balıkesir, Türkiye

Güre Thermal Springs

Güre Mahallesi, 10300 Edremit/Balıkesir, Türkiye

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