CUNDA HOTELS
CUNDA APART HOTELS
CUNDA ISLAND
While the island had 8-10 thousand inhabitants during 1900s, two thousand people dwell nowadays. While there were 4 primary schools, 1 seminary, and 1 orphanage in those years; today only one primary school and one kindergarten exist now. The octopus production was 100 thousand kilogram. The wine production was 500 thousand liters per year and as the grapes growth here were not sufficient, extra grapes were brought here from outside for the production.
In the summer time, motors run on hourly from Ayvalik and Cunda mutually. This 15 – 20 minutes long sea voyage is just like a short entertainment for the people coming for the rest. They nearly die for to get on the boats. The island is accessible by this way or by half-hourly municipality busses. Both ways have own characteristics.
When you reach the island, you shall not be able to satisfied with the beauties of the straits, islands, inlets one within the other, oil and pine forests when you climb the hills and watch the nature. How about the inner of the island?
Urban or architectural revelry makes the people dunk in the island streets! These streets are the right place for the neo-classical architecture fans and people passionate for the life in a quiet city full of the nature. Sometimes you feel as if in a narrow street of Venice because of the vines springing up from the bottom of a door and climbing to the window of the upper stairs; and sometimes you feel as if in Byzantium in a street having no Green. From then on, you walk around the nature, history, architecture and politics… This island is a place of the ancient people and ancient civilizations. Go around until you get tired... Go around from side to side, all around, in the ways going upwards and downwards… You will come across such inlets, such restful places to be swum that you will discover the reasons why ancient people dwelled here by yourself. Philosopher, historian, geographer, Stravon and Plinius following him tell about here all the time. You will find the chance to go away from today’s tiring, maddening and dirty civilization at this place. The Greeks of Ottoman nationality dwelled here in the past didn’t call here as the fragrant island without any reason! ...
In order to fully enjoy the island you rested or just came for walking around, we add that writers before Christ have wrote something about the civilizations here and then finish our mission: Klaodius , Ailianos and Ptolomaios. That all from us for now… Until the research results are completed.
WATCHING THE SUNSET FROM THE HILLS OR FROM THE SEASIDE…
In Cunda, which have invaluable beauties and surrounded by a fascinating sea and called by the former inhabitants as “Small Paris”, watching the sunset from the hills or seaside gives an extraordinary soul to the man.
With a hat on your head, you walked around the streets, hills, seaside and even islands; you swam in the sea where you liked, you swam a few crawls, and if you have interest you dived any place you liked and you slept in any corner and you watched the disappearance of the sun and then the evening has come.... You are also hungry… It is normal that you got hungry too much. It is normal, because you spent too much energy, you freed from your lack of training and as the most important thing you got the source of life, unmixed oxygen, required as much as abundant water… Moreover you feel strange because of the oxygen abundance and you are not even aware of it! ... Go to seaside and sit on the Sea Restaurant’s table. Eat your papalina, gilt head bream, common sea bream, coral, bass, red mullet and hundreds kinds of more other foods presented by the sea with a cup of drink conforming to your delight. Meanwhile, sunflower oil is not even talked about. Let’s consider that in the origin place of the ultra delicious olive oil famous for worldwide, using the sunflower oil is a shame!
And also means having no palate…
TO THE CURIOUS: CHURCHES OF THE ISLAND
1-TAKSIHIYARHIS CHURCH:
It was built in 1873. It is in the line of Lower Fountain which doesn’t flow anymore. It has the Byzantium style traditionally applied by the Greeks of the Ottoman nationality. It was a metropolitan church of the Cunda Island.
2-AYA TRIYADA:
It is recorded to be built in 1865. It is the first church built in the island. There is a large land at the end of the Bakkal street of our day. The church was there.
3-AYOS DIMITRIYOS:
It is said that it was near to the windmills, eastwards.
4-PANAYA CHURCH:
At the beginning of the Bakkal street, its two and a half wall still stands. It was built in 1850 for the second time.
5-AYOS PANDELEYMONAS:
It is recorded to be at the northwestwards. It was built in the memory of the saints, such as the Ayos Nikolaos Church at the lower line, by the seamen.
6-AYOS NÄ°KOLAOS:
This is said to be northwestwards.
7-AYOS YANNÄ°S:
It is on the left hill at the entrance of the island with four walls. There is nothing left in it. It has the position that sees the three seas and called as the lovers’ hill now.
MONASTERIES:
According to the 1817 counting, there were 7 monasteries on the island. With the Evan Gelistriya Nunnery, this is on the hill at the tail towards the northeast of Cunda in the Ayvalik direction, built afterwards their number reached to 8.
1- PINEY MONASTERY (TAKSIYARHIS TA ÇAMYA):
It can be reached with a one-hour-long easy walk from the center of the island following the left side of the sour fountain on the road to Pateriça on foot. In those old times, it was a celebration place where people from Ayvalik and Cunda had gone daily in order to inhale its piney odorous air for rest and celebrating the May.
2-LEKA PANAYA MONASTERY OR KORUYAN MARIA MONASTERY:
The monastery at the right of the Dalyan (Fishery) Strait exit of Ayvalik, or at the left on the entrance of the same strait, seen among the olive trees, at a dominant place to the strait is the Leka Panaya monastery.
3-MOONLIGHT MONASTERY (AYDÄ°MÄ°TRÄ° TA SELÄ°NA):
The meaning of the Pateriça, which is a northern extension of Cunda, is ‘crutch’. This piece of land is accessible both by sea and by land. Access by land is short and fast. The first village and the second village of Pateriça were called as lower houses and upper houses in the old times. After passing, you can reach the ‘Moonlight Monastery’ with a 45-minute-long walk. You can see that on one door 1771 and on the other 1795 dates are inscribed. These dates are said to be the repair dates of the monastery.
4-AYOS APOSTOLOS MONASTERY:
It is on a small hill at the right after turning to the seaside road after passing the bridge on the road to Cunda… It has 4 walls still standing and it is a randomly built structure having no work of architecture. Because of its smallness, we think that 2-3 monks dwelled here. Its landscape is nice.
5- CHICKEN ISLAND MONASTERY (AY YOANNU TOU PRODROMOU):
You can see it easily from the Cunda seaside. The island is even accessible by swimming. It is recorded that it has totally 120 rooms on the lower floor and upstairs and these rooms were rented to the summer holiday makers. It is also recorded that in their 1821 riot against Ottomans, the Greek Admirals gathered together in this monastery and planned the rescue of Ayvalik and another settlement Moshonis (Cunda).
6- PIGEON ISLAND MONASTERY ( AY YORGÄ° MONASTERY ):
This island is shelter for the pirates, it has a natural fishery. When merciless pirates became old and couldn’t mix the sea anymore, this monastery was a shelter for them in order to get purified from blood, sin and murders.
7-PROFIT ILIYA MONASTERY (PROPHET ELIJAH):
At the sea side after 200 meters from the Bridge on the way to Cunda, a small remainder of the basement still stands.
8- NUNNERY (EVAN GELISTRIA)
We have compiled the list of these churches and monasteries from the books of old Cunda inhabitants named Sitsa Karaiskaki’s ‘Yurdum : Kokulu Adalar (My Homeland: Fragrant Islands )’ and Vasiliki Ralli’s ‘Unforgettable Homeland: Asia Minor’.
ANCIENT CITIES CRADLE OF CIVILIZATIONS*
We determine that, including the antique period and the following centuries, more than 12 historians have written about the Cunda group of islands. According to the information given us, a geographer from Cunda of Ottoman nationality named Evstratios Drakos tells about the prehistoric period of these islands in his book named ‘Hekatonissos’ which was published in 1895. These geographer from Cunda wrote about Ayvalik by referencing Drakos. People who went from here say these: Pordololene antique civilization is from the SoÄŸan (Onion) Island which is called as Tulip Island nowadays. This city was founded in Pirgos (Maden (Mine) Island) afterwards. Two epigraphs brought out from here can be shown as proof. But, on the other hand one of these epigraphs belongs to antique Kidonia (Ayvalik) city and the other one belongs to Pirgos city. These epigraphs are stated to be brought out during the enlargement of the narrow and long passage (connecting the SoÄŸan Island to Ayvalik). But unfortunately these two proofs disappear from the Ayvalik Academy on 3 June 1821, the date on which Ayvalik was destroyed! The researches made have shown that Pirgosun (Pordosolone) was built in the Roman age. Nasos (Cunda) was at the part of Alibey Island of the bridge in the antique age. After it sank, it was built at the place where it exists now. That is to say, numerous remainders and Byzantium moneys were found on today’s Cunda, Çıplak (Bare) Island and Pirgos (Maden (Mine) Island).
COIN WAS BEING MADE ON CUNDA
Although in small amounts, in the period of Pordosolone civilization that lived on the Maden (Mine) Island, cradle of old civilizations Cunda, named as Nasos in those times, was a place where coins were being made. Cunda had its own money. And Pordosolone (Maden (Mine) Island) had its own money too… In the Asia Minor part of the money catalogs the photographs of these coins were published under the title of ‘Classıcal and Hellenıstıc periods:Ionia’.
In the places where these two civilizations disappeared, in this island called as Yunda by Ottomans and called as Cunda by us, the coinage tradition comes until the date of 1882. It is interesting that this place is ahead of the surrounding municipalities … Just like the foundation of municipality.
On the coins, you find the date of 1897 of Çanakkale (Dardanelles), 1902 date of Bayramiç Municipality, 1890 date of Plumari Municipality, 1895 date of Dikili Municipality, 1883 date of Midilli Municipality and 1882 date of Yunda (Cunda) Municipality on the Midilli Island. Although rarely found, you can see someone who have these coins, generally called as ‘Countermark’, that were made by Merchants, Municipalities or churches by themselves and that have their own stamps, in order to appease the coin shortage.
MOSHONIS STORY
We had told about that the Cunda Island was called as ‘Moshonisi’ (Fragrant Island) by Greeks having the Ottoman nationality. It is said that in the Middle Ages the shelter of a pirate named Moshos was here and the name comes from that.
Really, the name of the island just behind the Cunda Island separated by a narrow and shallow strait is called as ‘Moshos’. The island called as Mosco by people of Ayvalik… This name has become the common name for the whole island in the course of time.
Some say that this is the name of the fragrance emitted from the plants grown here; some others say that is the clean air driven here from the north strait and Divine Mountain Ida (Kaz Mountain) by the northwest winds.
We agree with both opinions and reach such a synthesis: the old name of this island results from the fragrances emanating from the rich flora and iodine and oxygen mixture coming from the sea!...
(Infinite thanks to the Mr. Ahmet Yorulmaz, the honorable writer of the book Ayvalık’ı Gezerken (Walking Around Ayvalik) for his contributions.)
Cunda and its neighborhood is a heaven of islands. Some of them are below. You can see them all with the daily island tours.
Islands:
1)Çıplak (Bare)
2)Yumurta (Egg)
3)GüneÅŸ (Sun)
4)Yuvarlak (Circle)
5)Kamış (Cane)
6)Kılavuz (Guide)
7)Taşlı (Stony)
8)Yelken (Sail)
9)Yanlız (Alone)
10)Küçük maden (Small mine)
11)Cunda
12)Hasır (Mat)
13)Dolap (Cupboard)
14)Kutu (Box)
15)Balık (Fish)
16)Çiçek (Flower)
17)Kayabaşı (Rock Top)
18)Kız (Maid)
19)Poyraz (Northeast wind)