Gökçeada

Gökçeada - Imbros - lies in the northern Aegean and is the largest island in Turkey, hilly, green by island standards, and thinly populated. Its interior villages are the distinctive part: Zeytinliköy, Tepeköy, Dereköy and Kaleköy were Greek settlements, built in stone with red-tiled roofs on terraced slopes, several with their churches still standing and a small Greek community that has partly returned in recent decades to farm and open guesthouses. Old stone windmills stand on the ridges. Around the coast are broad empty bays - Aydıncık and Kefaloz on the south, Yıldızkoy on the north - and Aydıncık's steady thermal wind and shallow lagoon have made it a serious windsurfing and kitesurfing spot with schools on the beach. The island has been designated a slow-city and much of the farming is organic by policy. Ferries are the constraint: crossings are weather-dependent and vehicle space in August must be booked far ahead.

What you actually see

• The stone villages - Zeytinliköy, Tepeköy and Dereköy on the slopes.
• The ridge windmills - old stone mills above the fields.
• Aydıncık bay - the lagoon and the windsurf schools.
• The empty coast - long bays with almost nothing built on them.

When to go

May to October; June and September are the sweet spot for wind and quiet. August fills completely and ferry vehicle space sells out weeks ahead.

Honest expectations

Ferries are cancelled in strong wind, and the crossing is exposed. A car or scooter is close to essential - the villages are far apart. Facilities thin out sharply outside summer.

Nearby

Bozcaada is the smaller island to the south; Çanakkale and the Troad are on the mainland.