Çanakkale
View of the Dardanelles Strait ( Copyright © Photo by Sezai KALAFAT )
Çanakkale (pronounced [t?a?nak?ale]) is a town and seaport in Turkey, in Çanakkale Province, on the southern (Asian) coast of the Dardanelles (or Hellespont) at their narrowest point. The population of the town is 96,588 (2009 estimate.) The mayor is Ülgür Gökhan (CHP).
Çanakkale Province, like Istanbul Province, has territory in both Europe and Asia. Ferries cross here to the northern (European) side of the strait.
The city is the nearest major town to the site of ancient Troy. The “wooden horse” from the 2004 movie Troy is exhibited on the seafront. Çanakkale is the second city to be situated on two continents after Istanbul. However Çanakkale is closer to mid-division than Istanbul. [1]
A province in both Asia and Europe
Turkey has territory both in the continents of Asia and, to a lesser extend, in Europe. Only two of Turkey’s provinces, namely Istanbul and Çanakkale, have territories that are both in Asia and Europe.
Çanakkale is separated by a strait, which is named after the city. The Çanakkale Straits (the Dardanelles) link the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas to the Marmara and Black Seas. The water of these two great seas flows in two separate currents, the lower flowing up the Strait and the surface one flowing down. The climate of Çanakkale is a mixture of that of the Mediterranean and Black Sea.
The Dardanelles Strait is 65 kilometres (35 miles) long and its width varies between one to six kilometres (0.75-four miles). Its average depth is about 100 metres (328 feet.)
Çanakkale as a tourism centre
Çanakkale itself is a giant history museum where the location of the ancient city of Troy (Troai), which enlightened the history of humanity, and where the Trojan War and the Gallipoli Campaign took place. It is a stage for great drama, from the great east-west war (Troy) in ancient times to the more recent great east-west battles of Gallipoli. The city of Alexandria Troas, where excavation work is continuing and which was once considered as an alternative for the capital of the Roman
Empire, and many other ancient sites are just an element of a cultural tour that should not be missed.
Çanakkale is also a tourism and aquatic centre with its very productive clean seas; with Mount Ida (Kazdaglari) where the God Zeus sat, watched and interfered in the Trojan War; where Hellenistic myths and Turkmen legends intertwine; and with Gökçeada (Imbros), the largest of Turkey’s islands and the tourism attraction of the island of Bozcaada (Tenedos).
Nowadays, the provincial capital Çanakkale is a modern city where daily life is easy with its university, high quality hotels and restaurants providing special delicacies of Aegean cuisine.
Çanakkale in Antiquity
Dardanelles and Hellespont are the old names of what is now Çanakkale. The word Dardanelles comes from Dardanos, a mythical ancestor of one of the survivors of Troy.
Çanakkale’s other ancient name, Hellespont, also comes from mythology. According to the mythological story of the “Golden Fleece”, that was intensely used by ancient writers, the region was named after means Helle, who legend says fell into the waters of the Strait and drowned while riding on a flying ram with a golden fleece when she and her brother were fleeing to the Black Sea city of Colchis.
Apart from its being on a crossing point between two continents, Çanakkale attracted the attention of the Eastern Roman Empire, later to become the Byzantine Empire; the Mediterranean countries for trading with the Black Sea, famous for its fish, and the Black Sea countries for whom the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles were the only opening from their inland sea to the world.
At times in history, armies from one continent crossed to the other by building bridges of boats or bridges supported by buoys.
Though there have been no specific find from Dardanos it is believed that its history goes further back than that of Troy. While the history of Troy I, discovered after excavations that were carried out over a period of years, goes back to 3000 BC, the earliest known settlement in the region has been dated to more than 5000 years ago.
The city of Troy that was founded in 3000 BC was destroyed by an earthquake 500 years later. Troy, which was to re-established and destroyed many times after that, founded a great civilisation.
Çanakkale has seen this and other civilisations rule the region at different times. In 500 BC, it was the Persians that flooded over all of Anatolia. In 386 BC, with the “Peace of Kings” between the Persians and the Spartans, Persian sovereignty in the region was reinforced. The Persian King Xerxes build a bridge of ships and buoys across the Strait in order to cross into Greece and Macedonia, passing his army over the Strait from Abydos to Sestos.
Persian rule in the region was destroyed with the defeat inflicted by the Macedonian King Alexander the Great on the Persian army at the battle of Granicas (the Biga stream) in 334 BC. Shortly after the death of Alexander, there were conflicts between the Macedonian commanders over control of the region. Under the rule of the Pergamum Kingdom the region was renamed Galat. It gained importance during the times of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. The first territory seized by the Ottomans in the region was the town of Gelibolu. It was only later that full Ottoman sovereignty over the region was attained.
The history of the city of Çanakkale
The city of Çanakkale
The core of settlement in the city founded on the shores of the Strait in the Ottoman era was around the Çimenlik Castle, built in1462. The fortress, which remains well preserved to this day and now serves as the Naval Museum, had Muslim military personnel, staff and public servants that were appointed to defend the Strait from the fortress, and who established a residential district around the Fatih Mosque called Cami-i Kebir. At the same time the Romanians who had worked on the building of the fortress settled in the Çay (Streamlet) district.
Following the forming of these two districts, the Greeks who were heavily involved in the shipping sector moved to the town from surrounding areas. They founded the Rum (Anatolian Greek) district to the north of Cami-i Kebir. At same time Armenians also moved into the town and settled around the Zafer Meydan? (Victory Square) church area.
The marketplace for the city was established to the north of the fortress. As small industries developed on the bank of the Sar?çay, artisans settled to the south of the Armenian district and to the east of the Çay district.
Becoming a port city
The town, at the time known as Kale-î Sultaniye, took its current name Çanakkale either from the fortress, whose appearance was reminiscent of a bowl, or from the pottery for which the town became famous. (Çanak in Turkish means bowl)
Çanakkale progressed towards becoming a city up to the 18th century, due to the increasing economic importance of the Straits, growing more prosperous as it developed into a port city. As the older districts expanded the Armenians that used to deal with trade began settling in and built in the Jewish district. With the Straits trade and its being a port city foreign governments established consulates in Çanakkale, with the number of diplomatic missions reaching 20 in a short time. They formed the trade missions district on the waterfront.
With the decline of the Ottoman in the 19th century, many of the Muslims living on the Aegean islands, the Crimean Peninsula and the Balkans began migrating to the Anatolian mainland. Some of those who found their homelands unsafe moved to Çanakkale, with the Tatar district being founded. At the same time, the city’s non-Muslim population, rather than moving, continued to grow and spread, establishing a new Rum district.
MUSEUMS
THE ÇANAKKALE ARCHAEOLOGY MUSEUM:
Barbaros Mahallesi.100.Y?l Cad. ÇANAKKALE
Tel : 0286 217 65 65 – 217 67 40 Faks 0286 217 11 05
E-mail: canakkalemuze@kulturturizm.gov.tr
Open hours : 08:00 – 17:00 (closed on Mondays) Entrance fee
THE ÇANAKKALE STRAIT COMMAND NAVAL MUSUEM:
Fevzipa?a Mah.Çimenlik Sok. – ÇANAKKALE
Tel: 0286 213 17 30 , E-mail: ckaleaskerimuze@ttnet.net.tr
Open hours : Pbarring Mondays and Thursdays 09:00 – 12:00/13:30 – 17:00, Entrance fee.
THE ÇANAKKALE STRAIT COMMAND NAVAL MUSUEM:
Sedülbahir Köyü Morto Koyu – ÇANAKKALE
Tel: 0286 862 00 82
Open hours : 08:00 – 17:00, (closed on Mondays), Entrance fee.
Kabatepe – ÇANAKKALE
Tel: 0286 814 12 97
Open hours : 08:00 – 17:00, (closed on Mondays). Entrance fee.
HISTORICAL SITES
TROY:
Te?ikiye Köyü – ÇANAKKALE
Tel: 0286 283 05 36
Open hours 08:00 – 17:00 (winter), 08:00 – 19:30 (summer), open every day, Entrance fee.
Behramkale Köyü Ayvac?k – ÇANAKKALE
Open hours 08:00 – 17:00 (throughout the year), (open every day), Entrance fee.
ALEXANDREIA TROAS:
Dalyan Köyü Ezine – ÇANAKKALE
Open hours 08:00 – 17:00 (throughout the year), (open every day), Entrance fee.
CASTLES
Bozcaada Castle:
In the Bozcaada centre.
You can visit the site summer and winter between 08:00 – 17:00. Entrance fee.
Gelibolu Castle : Gelibolu
This castle in the centre of the town only has one tower that has survived to our day. Inside the tower there is a small museum.
Baba Castle – Babakale-Ayvac?k
Located in the town of Babakale, 115 kilometres from Çanakkale. According to the inscription on its gate, the castle was built by Vezir Kaptan Mustafa Pa?a (Minister Captain) during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmet III to protect the region from pirates. Early on it was named Hirz-ül-bahir (Enchanted Castle) and later in name of Latif Baba, a crewman of Piri Reis, who was buried in here Baba Kale .
Had?mo?lu Kona?? - Bayramiç
The Bayramiç Türk Evi (Turkish house) is used an Ethnography Museum.Visiting hours: 08:00 – 17:00, (open all week), Entrance Fee.
Kilitbahir Castle
Visiting hours: 08:00 – 17:00, barring Mondays and Tuesdays, Entrance fee. .
CULTURAL CENTRES
The State Fine Arts Gallery
This mansion in Ottoman times belonged to the Dardanelles Brigadier General of Artillery Necip Pasha and was built between 1885-1900.
The architecture of the mansion is in the art nouveau style.
The mansion used to belong to British citizen and is publicly known as the Madam Hatti as, after her death, she left the building to the Çanakkale Municipality.
Today it is on the Kayserili Ahmet Pasha Street serving as an art gallery of the Culture and Tourism Ministry. In its entrance foyer there is a permanent display of a photograph collection of Çanakkale and throughout the year various exhibits of plastic arts are displayed.
Address: Kayserili Ahmet Pa?a Cad. ÇANAKKALE
Tel : 0286 217 61 61 Fax : 0286 212 45 22
M. A. Ersoy Theatre and Culture Centre
Kayserili Ahmet Pa?a Cad. ÇANAKKALE
Tel : 0286 217 50 12 – 0286 217 37 91
Fax : 0286 212 45 22 – 0286 217 25 34
M. A. Ersoy Provincial Public Library
Kayserili Ahmet Pa?a Cad. ÇANAKKALE
Tel : 0286 217 23 69
THE YALI HANI
There is no written record on the building of the Yal? Han. All that is known is that its history goes back to pre-1880 and that it was owned by Ahmet Turhanl?, known as Hanc? Ahmet A?a, since 1910.
It is possible to come across the Yal? Han in the memoirs of the German archaeologist Schliemann who discovered the location of Troy. It is known to be centre where the post carriers changed horses and rested. Schliemann in his memoirs said that the Troy pieces he smuggled out of the country passed through the Yal? Han. The Yal? Han was used for accommodation throughout much of its history. It burned down in 1940 and a large part of it was rebuild in concrete. It again provided accommodation since 1975.
Today its second floor (22 rooms) are not being used while on the ground floor seven rooms out of the 12 are being used for handcraft productions and displays while its courtyard serves as a coffee house and bar.
The Yal? Han hosts cultural and art activities staged by the governor office, the local administration and NGOs
THEATRES
Tiyatro Troya - M.Akif Ersoy Tiyatro Salonu – Çanakkale
Tel : (0286) 232 84 46 Mobile : (0535) 732 27 00
CINEMAS
Leya Sinemas? : Tansa? – Do?anlar Plaza Alt? ?zmir Yolu – ÇANAKKALE
Tel : (0286) 214 15 73
Leya Sinemas? : Belediye ?? Merkezi – ÇANAKKALE
Tel : (0286) 214 10 66
Afm Sinemalar? – Gima Al??veri? Merkezi-ÇANAKKALE (286) 214 10 66
SERVICES
Laundries
Truva Çama??rhanesi (0286) 217 97 50
Karadal Çama??rhanesi (0286) 213 56 90
Y?kamatik (0286) 213 25 05
Sauna and Baths
Ferhat Hamam & Sauna (0286) 217 33 45
Yal? Hamam? (0286) 217 23 67
Büyük Hamam (0286) 217 24 84
THERMAL WATERS
ÇANAKKALE-KESTANBOLU THERMAL WATERS:
There is a capacity of 3600 person/day/bath.
Physical and Chemical Specifications and the diseases which the water effective:
The heat of the water is 67 oC, pH degree is 5,9 and radon value is 2650 picocuri/liter. Water has a composition of chlorine, sodium, iron, ferrous, fluorine. It is convenient to bathe and to drink. It has positive effects for therapy of rheumatism, women diseases, respiratory system diseases, weariness of nerves and muscles, calcification. In the vicinity there are pine and oak trees.
KÜLCÜLER THERMAL WATER:
It is 18 km west of Bayramiç. There are pools and bath in the site. Thermal water contains of sodium sulphate and sulphur. The heat of the water is between 29-34,5 oCand there is 8,7 to 14,1 radioactivity. The water cures rheumatism, skin and women diseases, nephritis and paralysis.
ÇAN THERMAL WATER:
It is in the center of Çan and managed by the municipality. There are pools, a hotel, and a bath. The water contains sulphate. The heat of the water is 46 oC and 15 radioactivity. The water is useful in treatment of liver, intestinal, uriner diseases.
ÇAN TEPEKÖY THERMAL WATER:
It is in Tepeköy, which is a town that 16 km far away from Çan. The water contains sulphur. The heat of the water is between 37-48,7 oC. There are pools, baths and a hotel
B?GA KIRKGEÇ?T THERMAL WATER:
It is 45 km far away from Biga. There are 24 flats, a hotel with 152 beds, a kitchen, an indoor swimming pool, and a sauna. The rooms are centrally heated and there is cold and hot water in the rooms. The heat of the water is 53 oC. It has positive effects for therapy of rheumatism, articulation, skin and women diseases, and hernia.
Phn: (+90 286)-394 80 08 – 394 81 78
Don’t Leave Without
- Seeing Gallipoli and visiting Martyrs,
- Watching sun set at Assos and seeing visual arts festival,
- Visiting Troja, and climbing to wooden horse,
- Tasting Bozcaada wines,
- Diving at bays of Gökçeada [2]
Sources:
1- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Çanakkale
2- http://www.canakkale.gov.tr/English/index.html
