Balçova is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey.Büyükşehir İlçe Belediyesi , Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023. Its area is 16 km2, and its population is 80,721 (2022). It covers the western part of the Greater Metropolitan Area of İzmir. Balçova is a fully urbanized at the rate of 100 percent. Balçova district area follows the southern coastline of the inner Gulf of İzmir, on the road to Çeşme and is at a distance of to the west from the traditional center of İzmir (Konak), which it borders on the east. Balçova district further neighbors the district area Narlıdere to the south and the west, both of its neighbors being among İzmir's metropolitan districts. Balçova district's overall levels of education are among the highest in Turkey, the literacy rate reaching 98 per cent, while the calculations for average yearly income per inhabitant situate it slightly below the national average, at 4.327 US Dollars, for which its open approach to outside immigration may have played a role. The overall appearance of Balçova leaves the impression of a locality where people are generally educated and who subsist on mid-revenues. The economy is largely based on commerce and tourism, its three shopping malls constituting the backbone for the first range of activities, and its thermal baths for the second. New housing projects putting Balçova's advantageous location to benefit and generally aimed at mid- to higher- income residents started to be built in recent years and as such, Balçova became in recent years one of İzmir's metropolitan districts where the economy grew the fastest. Balçova is home to İzmir University of Economics.
Agamemnon Baths
The thermal baths have been famous since antiquity and were known as the Baths of Agamemnon and Thermal Springs of Agamemnon and Agamemnoneia (Ἀγαμεμνόνεια; "of Agamemnon"). According to tradition, many of Agamemnon's soldiers bathed there after an oracle advised them to do so following a battle. The healing waters restored them so completely that they no longer required the services of the physician Podalirius. The baths subsequently flourished and, as a mark of their renown, came to bear the name of Agamemnon.Greek Anthology Book 9, 9.631Philostratus, Heroica, 691 An epigram in the Greek Anthology praises the Agamemnon Baths. Aelius Aristides had also frequently resorted in the baths and had reported that it was here that Asclepius had first began to prophesy.
A number of sulfurous hot springs rise in and around a small stream, which previously dried up in summer, but which is now kept in service all year round thanks to modern installations centered around a five-star hotel. The waters, of a temperature of to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, are considered good for rheumatism, sciatica, gallstones and eczema. The baths remain extremely popular both by themselves and by the thermal establishment's having extended its range of activities also in the field of congress and exhibition tourism.
Visitor attractions
Two decommissioned ships of the Turkish Navy, a submarine and a frigate, are the main attractions of the İnciralti Sea Museum. The Balçova Gondola operates on a nearby hill.
Composition There are 8 neighbourhoods in Balçova District:Mahalle , Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
Bahçelerarası Çetin Emeç Eğitim Fevziçakmak İnciraltı Korutürk Onur Teleferik
Notes
References
Further reading
External links İzmir Metropolitan Municipality