Yenifoca: the Younger Foca?

When I was in Eski Foca two years ago, I had wanted to take a bus and visit the other Foca - Yenifoca that is - on a day trip, but there are very few direct buses between the two Focas, and I did not manage to wake up early enough in the morning to catch that bus from old Foca to the new Foca. During my next few trips to Turkey, I did not have time to visit this part of Turkey, and the plan to take a look at this seaside village was postponed until earlier this year.

According to the locals, Yenifoca (the new Foca) is actually the older of the two Focas, but for reasons which nobody can really explain, this town has been called Yenifoca, while the supposedly younger other Foca was known as the Eski (Old) Foca instead.

The two Focas have quite a few things in common. First, both are seaside villages with similar historical and cultural heritage; both have plenty of beautiful Sakiz-Greek stone houses left behind by the departing Greeks who emigrated to Greece in the aftermath of the Asia Minor disaster. And both have very windy sea, especially in the winter months. 

Each Foca is nice in its own way, but if you ask me, I prefer Eski Foca to Yeni Foca. Eski Foca has more of those Sakiz style houses, the harbour is more scenic, and the town has a life of its own, even in winter. Yeni Foca on the other hand is nice and sweet, but it could get a bit boring after a day or two. Also there seem to be more modern holiday houses in the outskirt of Yeni Foca than Eski Foca, and anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I do not have think very highly of identical modern-looking holiday home estates built by property developers at prime holiday spots in Turkey for rich Turks from Istanbul or Izmir, as these holiday homes more often than not are an eyesore to the otherwise beautiful coastlines.

The weather was not great when I arrived at Yeni Foca. In fact, it was not an exaggeration to call the weather dismal. It was extremely windy, with chilly wind swepting all over the town, so cold that my hands were freezing and could not even press the camera shutter properly. To make it worse, the heavy downpour that followed made it completely impossible to take any pictures of the old houses remaining in Yeni Foca.

Due to the poor weather, the whole seafront and the town centre was completely deserted. There was no tourist in sight except me, and locals who hide inside the heated seaside cafes sheltered from the wind and the rain casted curious glances at my direction. Must be wondering what on earth I was doing in Yeni Foca on such a bad weather day.

Many nice former Greek houses can still be seen in the centre of Yeni Foca. Some of them are now inhabited by Turks, while some have sadly long since fallen into disrepair. In recent times, quite a few of these beautiful stone houses and mansions have been restored and converted into hotels, cafes and restaurants, as local residents began to realise the intrinsic cultural and historical values of their town's heritage and try to preserve these buildings instead of letting them fall victim to the passage of time.

In winter, only two or three hotels are open in Yeni Foca, and even during the low season, prices are not cheap. A simple bed-and-breakfast with a small lounge and kitchen costs 50TL per person. Be expected to dish out at least 100TL for a upscale room in one of those elegant boutique hotels housed in former Greek mansions. Transportwise direct buses depart every 30 minutes during the day from Izmir's main intercity bus station to Yeni Foca's town centre; while it is also possible to travel by Izmir's suburban metro system, the IZBAN, to Bicerova station and take a shuttle bus operated by Izmir's ESHOT public transport service system to the centre of Yeni Foca.

Copyrights@2012. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.