3 Best Sights in The Central and Southern Aegean Coast, Turkey

Named for St. Charalambos (also known as Haralambos), a local bishop martyred at the age of 113, and whose skull is still venerated in Greece, this large, early-19th-century Greek basilica church is a relict of Çeşme's former Greek Orthodox inhabitants, and was restored by the municipality in 2012. The space is now used as a cultural center that hosts art exhibitions and handicrafts bazaars. If it's open for one of these events, it's worth taking a peek inside as you stroll down the main street of Çeşme's shopping district; look up to see painted saints peering down at you from the ceiling.

This privately established cultural center in an ultra-modern building opened in 2023, in Ortakent village, with art galleries, performance stages, and arts and crafts workshops. A high-end restaurant upstairs complements the popular cafe bistro downstairs. Sometimes there are Sunday jazz brunches. The indoor section of the cafe and the rooms next door house a bookshop and gift store.

Just near the İzmir Port, the 140-year-old Alsancak Tekel Factory has been restored and transformed into a new culture and arts center, with the three buildings holding the two State Museums moved from elsewhere in İzmir, plus libraries and cultural spaces. The Atatürk Special Library, the Alsancak Public Library, and the Turkic World Music Special Library, as well as cultural and art workshop spaces, an open-air cinema, and exhibition areas occupy the smaller building and  the spacious gardens

The largest, two-story, building is home to the  Archaeology and Ethnography Museum displaying a rich archaeological collection on the ground and first floors. The former Ethnographic Museum's items collected from the İzmir region are held on the second floor. The interesting art collection covering the last two centuries of Turkish modern art held in the İzmir Painting and Sculpture Museum is housed in the second building.