Kuşadası awaits visitors to discover hidden treasures

AYDIN

The Mediterranean province of Aydın’s Kuşadası district is inviting domestic and international visitors for an adrenalin-pumping diving adventure to experience underwater marvels along with the resort town’s natural, historical and geographical wonders on land.

The town became a hub of divers with its proximity to İzmir, allowing divers to explore beneath the Aegean Sea that serves as a gateway to exciting moments.

An Airbus A 300 type passenger plane wreck, which was sunk by local authorities in the district and has been a favorite spot of scuba-diving enthusiasts, is attracting the attention of visitors once again with the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.

With 54 meters from nose to tail and a 44-meter wingspan, the aircraft is well intact in its original condition, including the fuselage, and different fish species now dart about its interior.

With the onset of the normalization phase, efforts were also made to create artificial reefs in Kuşadası, which has natural reefs such as underwater rock structures, bangos, deep wall crevices and caves.

Speaking to state-run Anadolu Agency, Emre Yazar, who has lived in the U.S. for 27 years, said that he had dived in different parts of Turkey until today but that he had never seen such a diversity of underwater life as in Kuşadası.

“A very different environment has been created for those who want to observe underwater life. I saw different kinds of fish. I entered the middle of the plane and exited the front door,” Yazar said, inviting all diving enthusiasts to the resort town.

Diving instructor Tağmaç Saraçoğlu also stated that the plane wreck reef brings mobility to Kuşadası’s diving tourism.

“There are divers who come to Kuşadası from different countries of the world to dive into the plane wreck. As Kuşadası has a clear and clean sea, it also enables divers to explore deep distances underwater,” Saraçoğlu noted, urging residents and visitors to take care to keep the sea clean.

The diving opportunities are not the only factors that make Kuşadası the center of attention, the spots that shed light on the city’s history continue to fascinate the visitors.

The Kurşunlu Monastery, which is estimated to have been built during the Laskaris Period in the 13th century B.C. and ranks on top of the must-go list of tourists, is ready to be restored following the completion of cleaning and landscaping works.

The monastery is perhaps the second most important ancient building in Aydın’s Kuşadası, after the Stylos (Arapavlusu) Monastery in the nearby Beşparmak Mountains.

The monastery is situated in an area that became an outstanding religious center for education in the aftermath of the immigrations of early Christian believers.

Overlooking the Aegean Sea and located among thick trees and plants, the monastery has an excellent view of the coastal towns of Kuşadası and Davutlar.

The monastery consists of a dining room, a cellar, a kitchen and bedrooms for monks, a small chapel and a necropolis.