Yenifoça
| Yenifoça | |
|---|---|
| Town within district | |
|
General view of Yenifoça | |
  Yenifoça | |
| Coordinates: 38°44′N 26°50′E / 38.733°N 26.833°ECoordinates: 38°44′N 26°50′E / 38.733°N 26.833°E | |
| Country |
 Turkey |
| Region | Aegean |
| Province | İzmir |
| Elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 3,742 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
| Area code(s) | 0232 |
| Licence plate | 35 |
Yenifoça (meaning "New Foça" in Turkish, the words sometimes spelled separately as "Yeni Foça") is a suburb of the Foça district, in Turkey's İzmir Province.
The town of Yenifoça is situated at about 80 km (50 mi) north by northwest of İzmir city center and a distance of 20 km (12 mi) from Foça proper. Since the names Yenifoça and that of the district center share the same roots, Foça itself is locally often called as Eskifoça ("the old Foça") in daily parlance.
Yenifoça is a small resort set around a harbor, with a large number of old houses in Ottoman or Greek styles filling its back streets. In recent years, the small town became very popular with those seeking second homes, especially from the province center of İzmir, and the estate agency business flourished considerably.
Yenifoça, taken over by the Genoese in 1275 and initially as a dowry, was the more active of the two Foças during the Middle Ages, due principally to the region's rich alum reserves, the Genoese lease over them having been preserved well into the Ottoman era.[1] On 12 May 1649, at the height of the Cretan War (1645–1669), the harbor was the scene of a naval engagement in which the Ottoman and Venetian navies briefly checked each other.[2]
Many parts of the district are under strict environmental protection, due to the value of the flora and the fauna, especially along the road north from Foça to Yenifoça, winding past camping grounds, hotels and holiday villas, and offering dramatic sea views. Therefore, a judicious way to get to know the district would be by boat tours regularly organized with departure either from Foça or Yenifoça. Because of the protective measures, new constructions are not permitted in many parts of the district and Foça is set to preserve its unique characteristic as composed principally of old houses.
See also
Sources
- ↑ Franz Babinger; William C. Hickman; Ralph Manheim (1992). Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, p. 19, ISBN 978-0-691-01078-6. Princeton University Press.
- ↑ Kenneth M. Setton (1991). Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the 17th Century, p. 155, ISBN 0-87169-192-2. Diane Publishing.
