Çeşme and Alaçatı Guide: Stone Windmills, Ilıca Beach and Mastic

Fifty minutes west of Izmir along the six-lane O-32 motorway, the Karaburun Peninsula narrows into the sun-drenched tip of Alaçatı and Çeşme, looking just eight kilometres across the strait to the Greek island of Chios (Sakız Adası). While July and August evenings turn Alaçatı into Turkey's most glamorous summer dining and windsurfing resort, visiting on a weekday or in May, June, September or October reveals a remarkably preserved 19th-century Aegean stone village and some of the clearest, shallowest turquoise water in the Mediterranean.

1. Walking Alaçatı Village: Windmills, Kemalpaşa Caddesi and Hacımemiş

Built two kilometres inland from its shallow, wind-swept southern bay by Greek stonemasons in the 1850s to 1890s using local pale yellow-and-pink volcanic tuff stone (Alaçatı taşı), Alaçatı is famous for its two-storey houses with painted wooden bay windows (cumba) in cobalt blue and lavender, draped in cascading magenta bougainvillea:

• The 1850s Stone Windmills (Alaçatı Yel Değirmenleri): start on the low hill at the northern entrance of the village, where four cylindrical 19th-century stone flour windmills look out over the red-tiled roofs.
• Kemalpaşa Caddesi vs Hacımemiş Mahallesi: while main spine Kemalpaşa Caddesi is lively with mastic ice-cream parlours and cafés, turn south into the quieter, cobbled lanes of Hacımemiş Mahallesi (around 2012 and 2001 Sokak) for independent ceramic studios, antique dealers, art galleries and courtyard bistros shaded by mulberry and pomegranate trees. If you visit on a Saturday, do not miss the massive open-air Alaçatı Saturday Market for wild Aegean herbs, local cheeses and hand-loomed linens.
• Alaçatı Port (4 km south): a shallow, flat-water bay with steady thermal winds that ranks among the top windsurfing and kitesurfing lagoons in the world.

2. Ilıca Beach and 1508 Çeşme Castle

Five minutes north of Alaçatı on the open northern coast stretches Ilıca Beach (Ilıca Plajı), a two-kilometre public crescent of fine white sand where natural submarine thermal mineral springs bubble up straight from the seabed, keeping the waist-deep turquoise water warm from May right through October. Continue ten minutes further west to Çeşme harbour to climb the ramparts of Çeşme Castle, built by Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II in 1508 and housing a maritime museum on the 1770 Battle of Chesma alongside a 1528 caravanserai built by Suleiman the Magnificent. Before heading back to Izmir, taste two local specialities flavoured with aromatic resin from native mastic trees (damla sakızı): warm mastic-and-custard pastry (sakızlı muhallebi) and a sizzling Çeşme kumru sandwich.

How to Get There Without a Car

Direct air-conditioned coaches run every 30 to 45 minutes from Üçkuyular Bus Terminal (Fahrettin Altay) at the western end of the Izmir Metro/Tram line straight to Alaçatı and Çeşme in 45 to 55 minutes.