ABOUT BABAKALE

Babakale is the fisherman village located on Canakkale. It’s surrounded by Mount Ida and facing towards to Mytilene. It has been found between Assos and Bozcaada which became pretty popular recently. Babakale has a Mediterranean climate with warm and dry summers and wet and cool winters. Although summer is the driest season, some rainfall does occur in summer.

Babakale sits on a cape that is exactly the westernmost point of mainland Asia. The local story has it that prisoners who were pardoned in return for working in the construction of the citadel of the village, and later joined in by seamen, and their families founded the village.

LIFE IN BABAKALE

Turkmen and Yoruks are the majority of demographics in Babakale. The population of Babakale is around 500. Main job line of people of Babakale is coastal fishing and some minor part of the community is still operating as shepherds. As a consequence of fishery tradition and untouched nature, marine ecosystem still stays as pure as hundreds of years ago. A natural feature of the Aegean Sea, Babakale cap accommodates several fish types such as swordfish, calamari, octopus, tuna, and akya fish. All of these sea creatures are directly exporting abroad without touching any Turkish trays. Besides fishing, milk and dairy products are also pretty famous of that region because of the unique flora of Mount Ida.

While you are visiting Babakale, you can easily find colorful threads lingering by the doors of houses. As a part of Anatolian tradition, these distinguish threads come with different meanings. If the nod not tied and looking downwards that means ‘I’m Home’, if it tied with a single nod that signifies “I’ll be back soon”, and if it tied strongly several times that means “I’m far”.

When you are visiting Babakale, local administration honors you with the certificate as same Capo Roca in Portugal that it says: ‘’it is given for visiting Babakale and he or she brings love and honor to us. Here is the western part of Turkey that ends the land and opens the beautiful Aegean Sea.The lighthouse sends love and friendship lights to all over the world. We never forget our guests and our guests too.’’

HISTORY

In the historical records, ancient name of Babakale is Lektos/Lekton, derived from Greek which translates’ windy headland’’ In Homer’s Iliad, he mentioned as it goes: ‘’they jumped from Lektos, came from the sea to confront the sea monsters’’ Babakale is a compound word as a consequence of joining baba and kale words together. A root of the name goes to the historical local figure of Ottoman Era and citadel itself.

As it mentioned in the story, an Ottoman janissary leader had to stay at the port in stormy weather and died at Babakale. After his death, his grave became a place that all sailors can pay his respects while they were passing by naming the headland as ‘Bababurun’

Later on, to protect the land and sea from privacy activity, Ottomans built a citadel close by the port and name transformed into ‘Babakale’

HIRZU´L-BAHR CASTLE

Babakale castle was built by using limestone and mixture of sand. It shaped in rectangular form. In every corner of the castle, there has been placed 10 cannon ball sockets. Round-arched Iron Gate welcomes you when you enter to the castle. Large corridor follows by Iron Gate and castle door is located at the end of that corridor.

Writing in the inscription, which is on the top of the castle doors says; this land was abandoned, sleep soundless and attacked and captured by hated pirates. The enemies robbed the People of Mohammed constantly here. The Captain Vizier Mustafa pasha broke out of village from the enemies immediately. The captain Mustafa pasha also built a bathhouse, a fountain and a mosque in the village.The Turkish-Muslims people occupied the castle site. When it was finished, Poet Vehbi calculated its historical periods and took a note in his chronicle as 1155.

Thanks to Mustafa pasha, this sturdy and beautiful castle was completed. Built a fortress at the entrance of the strait, 'may god protect us all from the deceptions of the enemy!'

BABAKALE PORT

Most likely, port and castle have been built in the similar period of time. There is no exact date or information about them but it seems so Babakale port was made in 1697.At the time of construction, builders laid 5 km. the pipeline from Ida Mounts to bring some spring water to the port and built a fountain. Approximately 300 years old port was planned as an important hub for commercial and warships. The port hadn’t finished in time and has been covered by stones until today. In 2009 the construction started for renewing and enhancing the port. Within 18 months, all restoration process has finished and started to facilitate as a full functional seaport.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE PORT

Port’s maximum capacity is 115 yachts and committee for fisheries and aquaculture manages it.

In-port water depth is between 2-8 m.

In summer time, it is easy to find a room but in winter, it operates at full capacity by the volume of fishermen ships.

In Babakale, you can get easily find a good place to stay and eat such as Balikci Motel.

Sources:
https://www.coastguidetr.com/
http://www.canakkale.gov.tr/tr
http://www.babakale.net/
http://www.assosrehberim.com/
http://www.canakkale.com.tr/