The windmill
Sunset views.
Maurice Flesier — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Maurice Flesier — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ömer Ünlü — CC BY 2.0 · Antoloji — CC BY-SA 4.0 · BilgeSaygin — CC BY-SA 4.0
Cunda, also called Alibey Island, is the largest island of the Ayvalık archipelago in the Edremit Gulf on Turkey's northwest coast, off the town of Ayvalık in Balıkesir Province, about 6 km northwest of Ayvalık in a straight line. It covers 26.8 square kilometres and lies 16 km east of the Greek island of Lesbos. Written sources mention settlements on the island since antiquity, among them Nasos and Pordoselene. In Greek the archipelago is called Moschonisia. The island is now linked to Ayvalık by a causeway, so visitors arrive by car or by boat. Old stone houses with colourful wooden shutters line the waterfront, with cobbled lanes climbing the hill behind. An old white windmill stands at the top of the island, looking over the bay scattered with small islands, and olive groves cover the hills. Visitors wander the old lanes, sit in the fish and meze restaurants on the harbour and climb to the windmill at sunset. Boats can be hired for trips among the islands, and summer evenings on the waterfront are lively.
Sunset views.
Old houses.
Fish and meze.
Cunda (Alibey) Island, Ayvalık, Balıkesir, Turkey
By car from Ayvalık over the causeway.
May to September.