The Greek villages of Gökçeada — Dereköy, Kaleköy, Tepeköy, Zeytinli and Eski Bademli — are registered as an urban conservation area, so their architectural fabric is protected. Zeytinli, three kilometres from the town, is built on an olive-covered slope and is where the coffee houses serving the island's well-known pounded coffee are found; the island's oldest church, Agios Georgios, is here too. Four kilometres away at Eski Bademli, the church of the Virgin, the laundry house and the old school building are worth a look.
Kaleköy, also four kilometres out, is one of the busiest places on the island in summer and takes its name from the Byzantine castle remains above it; in the village are the church of Agios Nikolaos, known as the small church, and the church of Agia Marina. Tepeköy, ten kilometres away, is the highest village on the island and has two churches, known as Panagia and Agia Maria. Dereköy, sixteen kilometres out, is the largest of the Greek villages, though most of its houses now stand empty; its historic laundry house, where the village women once washed their clothes together, is the thing to see there. Ferries to Gökçeada run from Kabatepe harbour in the Eceabat district.
Getting there
- Access
- Ferries run to Gökçeada from Kabatepe harbour in the Eceabat district of Çanakkale.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Çanakkale as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 6.4 °C in January to 25.2 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in December (105 mm) and lightest in August (11 mm). Long-term means for 1929-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
