A pearl in the middle of the Armutlu Peninsula is “Mecidiye Village”. We start visiting the Armutlu Peninsula by entering from Yalova and leaving from Gemlik.

Apart from the holiday resorts on our way, the seaside villages covered with summer sites that have turned into retirement paradise, and the residential areas well known to those seeking healing in the hot spring waters, in this trip, I will get to know the new secrets hidden in the changing portrait of the peninsula, and I will reveal the track with completely different features with its weather, panorama, and tastes with sentences and photographs… If you are setting out from Istanbul with a private vehicle, either from Eskihisar to Topçular, or by traveling around the bay from Yalova in the thermal direction to Çınarcık. We are on our way.

In fact, it is possible to reach Armutlu with a short and comfortable journey with a direct flight from Istanbul Yenikapı, but our aim is to see the details, get to know the environment and make comparisons.

We proceed along the thermal road with the sea on our right. The first people we encounter are flower greenhouses and sellers of artichokes, the May product grown in the fertile soil of the region. These are followed by attractive stalls selling pots and cut flowers. The first stop is Çınarcık, with summer houses built like the Great Wall of China, facing the sea and ten-storey apartment buildings with their backs to the forest. Even though the population sign says 9000, don’t be fooled and see it in summer.

At this point, you have 34 km to Armutlu and 75 km to Gemlik.

When Çınarcık and Teşvikiye are completed, houses and apartments are also completed. You are now alone with a lush green nature. Especially if it is spring, the intense scent of flowers and herbs begins to fill your lungs and make you dizzy. Moreover, you may think that you are in the tropical forests of Africa with the sounds of different birds.

At the end of the tea gardens built under old plane trees, where it is sometimes possible to sit on the ground, you come to Şenköy and encounter a jaw-droppingly magnificent plane tree. It says 3000 years old on it. A restaurant is set up in an area of ​​36 square meters inside the body. Operator Yusuf Özdil says, “This is the oldest monumental plane tree in Turkey!

“The outer diameter of the trunk is over 30 meters, foreign researchers came and measured it, and even the authors of books on “Turkey’s Old Plane Trees” also came,” he adds. While waiting for the tree, Yusuf Özdil serves meatballs at the tables he has set up! Around the tree, you can see Ottoman tombstones and column heads scattered among the elms, hornbeams and lindens, and an intense bird choir concert can always be heard.

There are also people who come to visit the tomb of Yaren Baba, the saint of Şenköy, on the hill called Engere, which is an old Greek village. While Engere’s cute and small sandy beach continues its traces as an old settlement area, it continues to be a favorite place for campers today. There are hostels 3 km away from the beach, which is very crowded in summer, where no one will be left out in the open.

While coming to Esenköy, another settlement, you can see the coastal village from above as you descend the ramp. Moles with their bright yellow, fragrant flowers, villas for sale, and the intense seaweed smell of the sea attract your mind. Bilgede Çamlıbel Facilities offers beach+café, Alabalık Şelale, Bülbül Creek meat+barbecue and restaurants. Along the route, green gushes out from the mountains and stones and embraces the sea, as if in comparison to the Black Sea coast.

The perfume-scented road of nature, which burns the nostrils, provides the ideal environment for motorcycle riders with its sweet slopes and bumpy ramps, giving pleasure to its riders.

In the Kaplıcalar area before the Armutlu entrance, there is Armutlu Thermal Springs, which offers daily family baths, jacuzzis, men’s and women’s pools, comfortable rooms, a health unit, massage and physical therapy. Tel no: 0 (221) 531 44 20 Another facility is Kartal Resort Tel no: 0 (226) 531 47 77

The ancient stone Bazaar Bridge, whose construction date is unknown but has been used until today, can be seen in the center of Armutlu. In the region, which is known to have been inhabited by Greeks who were engaged in winemaking in the past, 24 houses have been taken under protection and have been planned to be used for tourism purposes as a result of the renovation. Another monumental plane tree located in Bozburun, which is considered the most extreme point of Armutlu, has a majesty to behold.

The Selimiye region is known for its two monasteries bearing traces of Christianity.

Mecidiye Village

Now we are reaching Mecidiye, a tourism and organic village. The asphalt road, which starts to rise from Armutlu square, takes you to the heart of nature through clean air and greenery. You soon find yourself in a peaceful and quiet environment.

Hormone-free natural products have been grown since 1996 in the project, which includes the villages of Mecidiye, Selimiye and Hayriye and will affect 150 households, in which many organizations such as Environment and Forestry, Tourism, Provincial Directorate of Agriculture, Village Services, Yalova Horticulture Institute, State Hydraulic Works are involved. Sociologist Tülay Andiç, who works in Mecidiye, has diversified the production she started with olive cultivation and grows all kinds of vegetables.

Antiç, who consumes most of what is grown with spring water coming from the mountain for his guests in the eco-pension kitchen, also symbolically sells the excess product to those in need.

Tülay Andiç, who is assertive in the certified ecological product cuisine and states that the dishes made with different flavors of tomatoes, beans, peppers and eggplants are highly appreciated, also provides the opportunity for those staying at the Thuya boutique hostel in the village, which she has newly opened, to participate in various events.

If they wish, guests can follow the production processes in the village, watch the production of tomato paste, molasses, tarhana and bread in the village according to the season and take part in the production.

Those who express their wishes during the reservation are provided with the opportunity to tour with horses rented from the village under the guidance of a guide, photo safari, herbal enthusiasts are provided with the opportunity to collect medicinal plants or mountain hike with the help of an expert, while glass and wood can be painted with the materials supplied in the hostel’s workshop.

Thanks to the region’s abundant oxygen, those who gain vigor and get away from stress also have the opportunity to listen to classical music and read books most of their time. The farm, which is a suitable environment for families with children, has various poultry, sheep, lambs and horses. (Those who participated in the horse tour say that the horse quickly takes away the negative energy from people and gives them a power equivalent to a kind of meditation).

The farm can accommodate seminars, group meetings, yoga, meditation and personal development group work for up to 15 people.

Natural honey farming is also practiced in Mecidiye Village, where watching the snowy peak of Uludağ, the sky dome resembling a field of stars at night, and the moonrise are insatiable. Mustafa Dereli, who produces Karabaş honey with the flower essences collected by the bees from the abundant medicinal black pepper flowers found in the environment, states that there are many people who are interested in natural and real honey, which he started selling at the beginning of June, and that it has found healing properties.

We get off from Mecidiye village, located at the foot of Taz Mountain, the highest peak of the Armutlu Peninsula with 890 meters.

From Mecidiye to Gemlik

The next part of our road, which tours the peninsula and is right opposite Mudanya, includes Kapaklı, Narlı and Gemlik. There is variability in the land structure, and a different richness in vegetation begins on the gradually spreading hills. Giant sized stone pines and tall cypress pine trees create activity in different places.

While Fıstıklı locality welcomes the guests with its sandy beach and atmosphere as one of the breathing pipes, Yaşmak Motel Tel No: 0 (226) 535 60 17 and Emerald pool apart hotel Tel No: 0 (226) 531 44 80 provide services in the region.

It shines like a light as Narlı holiday village at the end of Kapaklı Village, which evokes the impression of a fishing village from afar with its appearance reminiscent of the Aegean coast and its boat shelter. Especially since it is the beach where the people of Bursa reach the sea the quickest, the coastal village where they come with their vehicles and have picnics overlooking the sea creates the impression that it has made progress in tourism by whetting the appetite with its seaside restaurants, fish smells and tea gardens.

Before you fully understand how and when you got out, you complete the peninsula tour by going down to the beach, which is the market street, by looking down at Büyük Kumla and then at Gemlik with its urban-like architectural texture. At this point, you have two options. You will either continue your journey towards Bursa with the dream of Iskender Kebab with yoghurt, or you will head towards Istanbul.