Foça is a district, as well as the center town of that district, in Turkey's İzmir Province.
The town of Foça is situated at about 69 km (43 miles) north by northwest of İzmir city center. The district also has a township with own municipality named Yenifoça (literally "the new Foça"), also along the shore and at a distance of 20 km (12 miles) from Foça proper. For this reason, Foça itself is locally often called as Eskifoça ("the old Foça") in daily parlance. The ancient city of Phocaea is located between the two modern Foças.
Additionally, 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.
Eski Foça stretches along two bays; a larger one named Büyükdeniz ("the greater sea") and a smaller cove within that large one, named Küçükdeniz ("the smaller sea"), where the medieval castle is also located.
Many parts of the district are under strict environmental protection, due to the value of the flora and the fauna, and the beauty of the small bays and coves, especially between Foça and Yenifoça. Therefore, a judicious way to get to know the district would be by boat tours regularly organized in partance of the center town. 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.
The construction project for a 300-boat capacity marina in Foça is recently tendered and started, upon the completion of which the town in expected to open to still more active international tourism.
The municipality announces that, twice-a-day ferry services to Mytilene (Midilli in Turkish), to be operated by a private company started as of 1 May 2007.
Foça is the site of one of three marine protected areas established in Turkey for the preservation of the Mediterranean Monk Seal, a heavily endangered species of sea mammals.
- New
