Çeşme, Turkey

Çeşme sits on a peninsula at the western tip of Anatolia, about 85 kilometers west of İzmir, with roughly 48,000 residents. A Genoese-built castle dating to 1508 still stands at the town's center, its four corner towers now enclosing a museum on the 1770 Battle of Çeşme. Near the harbour, an 1819 caravanserai recalls the Ottoman trade that once passed through the port. The surrounding coastline offers some 30 kilometers of beaches, including Ilıca, where thermal springs surface at the waterline. Across the strait, the Greek islet of Chios lies just seven kilometers offshore.