Where the Wind Sings

Alaçatı 

As the wind blows wildly as if to challenge all its enemies, the streets are enveloped with the fragrant scent of begonias and mastic trees. Alaçatı, which touches the depths of the soul, hasn't lost anything of its natural beauty despite its popularity,
gaining new regulars every year.

To be honest, when we chose Alaçatı as this Month’s travel destination, we felt somewhat Apprehensive. Columnists like Haşmet Babaoğlu and Ayşe özyılmazel can't seem to find enough words of praise for the place and Çağla Kubat has designated herself Alaçatı's tourism, Culture and sports ambassador, being one of its Devoted visitors. Everyone who goes seems to come back bewitched, like a different person. So now is definitely the best time to get a glimpse of the famous Alaçatı, the place that everyone's talking about.

It's even overtaken Bodrum in the gossip columns and TV programs this year. It's therefore only natural that we'll be biased about the place before seeing it for our own eyes. But, we reassure ourselves that "however popular. Alaçatı must have maintained some of its naturalness", and plunge into the adventure. Small is beautiful Alaçatı is very different from how it appears on TV. From the hotel to the people we bump into, from the food to its architectural landscape, everything seems to tell us our holiday will be a good one. We settle into The Taş Otel (Stone Hotel), Alaçatı's 120 year-old icons. The Taş Otel is a typical Greek house and one of the finest examples of the old Alaçatı houses. Taş Otel is like a mediator between us and the real face of Alaçatı. Known as the home of the God of Winds in Greek Mythology, Alaçatı evokes a different world with the begonias hanging from its oriels and shops lining the Streets. It's true that the village hasn't lost anything of its originality. The wind that caresses your soul

How has change come about so quickly in Alaçatı? One can't help but wonder. So crowded, and yet no sign that it's losing its characteristic modesty, its beauty...

This must be what they call conscious development. The stone houses that date back 150 years are all intact. They've been lovingly restored into chic restaurants, cafes and

Boutique hotels.Windsurfers were the first to discover this humble village; then came stone house enthusiasts. Finally, in 2001, with the opening of the first small hotel, Alaçatı suddenly became known all over Turkey, for having the cleanest sea and beach, and having protected its historical treasures... And what

of the windmills? The stone mills built

between 1850-1900 to grind flour symbolically defy time from their position on the villages highest hill. This area where the stone mills

stand has now been approved for Turkey's first wind energy station. The wind, it seems, not only brushes the soul, but will also play a role in the country's energy production for the future. The story of exchange Alaçatı is an ancient settlement. The village was called

'Agrilia' in ancient times, and was part of the Ionian Lands that dominated Western Anatolia. In the Ottoman era, the village was registered as 'Yaya-Müsellim'. Then, in the 1830s, the Aegean coast was shaken by a massive earthquake.

The Hajj Memiş Ağaç, whose name still lives on today as the name of the neighborhood, invited the Greek population of the Sakız Island opposite, who had grown poor as a result of the earthquake, to reside here. It's said that the village takes its name from the Alacaat Aşiret (Tribe) that resided there at the time, when Alaçatı's fate began to change. According to another rumour, the name comes from the Alaca horses, or the Aalacik tents. Alaçatı Port

was formed when one of the Ottoman sultans decided to open a canal on a piece of bog land to the south. And that's when the Greek population grew rapidly and the houses that shape Alaçatı's architectural fabric, started

to be built; that is, from the 1850s onwards. The Greeks, who were forced to abandon Alaçatı on 30 January 1923 with the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, left just their houses in their wake. In their place. Turks living in Kosovo, Bosnia. Thessaloniki. Kavala. Crete and

Kos, were exchanged as part of the treaty. Thus, Alaçatı today embraces all its visitors with gusto, reflecting the historical and cultural mosaic of its past.