Where to Visit in Aydin
Aydın at a commanding position for the region extending from the uplands of the valley down to the seacoast. Its population was 207,554 in 2014. Aydın city is located along a region which was famous for its fertility and productivity since ancient times. Figs remain the province’s best-known crop, although other agricultural products are also grown intensively and the city has some light industry.
At the crossroads of a busy transport network of several types, a six-lane motorway connects Aydın to Izmir, Turkey’s second port, in less than an hour, and in still less time to the international Adnan Menderes Airport, located along the road between the two cities. A smaller airport, namely Aydın Airport, is located a few kilometers in the South-East of Aydın. The region of Aydın also pioneered the introduction of railways into Turkey in the 19th century and still has the densest railroad network.
The province of Aydın is also where a number of internationally known historic sites and centers of tourism are concentrated.
Recent decades have seen Aydin going beyond its traditional role as a hub for agricultural products, and developing a diversified economy increasingly based on services. One event in this process was the opening in 1992 of Adnan Menderes University, named after a favorite son of Efeler, Aydın Adnan Menderes, Turkey’s prime minister during the 1950s. The pace of the economy is determined by the city’s location, at only an hour’s drive from the seashore. Many residents of Aydın typically have summer houses and investments in or around such centers of tourism as Kuşadası, Güzelçamlı and Didim.
But still the city has a quiet country market town feel to it and its dominance, within both the Turkish market and abroad, in the production of a number of agricultural products, particularly figs, still identifies Aydin Province, and most of this trade is managed and handled from Aydın itself.
Aydın city centre is still relatively small but growing, centred on one palm-lined avenue of shops and cafes, and a maze of narrow side streets, dotted with orange trees. The people more family-oriented, so there is little night life, or cultural amenities for young people, although presumably now they have a university this will change. There are a number of mosques, high schools, dersane (private courses cramming students for the university entrance exams) and other public buildings. Like all Turkish cities Aydin is now spreading as the middle-classes are leaving their flats in the city for smarter apartments or houses slightly out of town.
Aydin Museums
