Foça is a town and district in Turkey's İzmir Province, on theAegean coast.
The town of Foça is situated at about 69 km (43 mi) northwest of İzmir's city center. The district also has a township with its own municipality named Yenifoça (literally "New Foça"), also along the shore and at a distance of 20 km (12 mi) from Foça proper. For this reason, Foça itself is locally often called as Eskifoça ("Old Foça") in daily parlance. The ancient city of Phocaea (Greek:Φώκαια) is located between the two modern Foças.
Additionally, Yenifoça, taken over by theGenoese in 1275 as adowry, was the more active of the two Foças during the Middle Ages, principally due to the region's rich alumreserves (the alum mines of Foça were conceded earlier by theByzantines, in 1267, to the Genoese brothers Benedetto and ManueleZaccaria); the Genoese lease over them having been preserved well into theOttoman era. Another important Byzantine concession to the Genoese through dowry was the nearby island ofLesbos (to the Gattilusio family, as a result of the marriage between Francesco I Gattilusio and Maria Palaiologina, sister of Byzantine emperorJohn V Palaiologos) in 1355. The possessions of the Gattilusio family eventually grew to include, among others, the islands of Imbros, Samothrace,Lemnos and Thasos, and the city of Aenos (modern Enez in Turkey.) From this position, they were heavily involved in the mining and marketing of alum, useful in textile production and a profitable trade controlled by the Genoese.
Eski Foça stretches along two bays; a larger one named Büyükdeniz ("Greater Sea") and a smaller cove within that large one, named Küçükdeniz ("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
