Only a small part of the monastery on this island survives. The Greeks called it the monastery of Ayia Paraskevi, the Turks Taşlı Manastır — the stone monastery — and the island itself is called Tımarhane Adası because in earlier times it was used as a centre for the treatment of the mind.
The island lies opposite Çamlik bay at Ayvalık, at the end of the peninsula below the Şeytan Sofrası, and it commands a panorama over Cunda island, Tavuk island and the bay. Its oddly formed rocks and that view are as much of the interest as the ruin. The directorate notes that the point on the shore opposite, at the end of the peninsula, is reached by city transport.
Getting there
- Access
- At the tip of the peninsula at the end of Çamlık bay in Ayvalık, below Şeytan Sofrası; city transport reaches it.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Balıkesir as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 4.9 °C in January to 25.7 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in January (87 mm) and lightest in August (5 mm). Long-term means for 1999-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
