Şeytan Sofrası

Şeytan Sofrası is a flat table of volcanic rock on the ridge south of Ayvalık, about two hundred metres above the sea, and the name comes from a hollow in the stone that local tradition calls the devil's footprint - now railed off and hung with rags and wishes tied by visitors. What everyone actually comes for is the view. From the platform the whole Ayvalık archipelago lies below: Cunda and two dozen smaller islands scattered across a bay that runs west toward Lesbos, with the town on one side and Sarımsaklı's beach on the other. It faces west, so sunset is the event, and in summer the platform fills an hour beforehand with cars, dolmuşes and a considerable crowd. There is a café and a car park and nothing else. Out of season, in the middle of a weekday, you may have it to yourself, and it is just as good.

The landscape

• The archipelago - Cunda and the scattered islands below.
• The sunset - the sun going down west toward Lesbos.
• The devil's footprint - the railed hollow in the rock.
• The bay - Ayvalık on one side, Sarımsaklı on the other.

When to go

April to June and September to October. Late afternoon for sunset, which is the whole point - arrive an hour early in summer or you will not park.

Good to know

It is a viewpoint with a café and nothing more - twenty minutes if the light is wrong. Sunset in summer means crowds and a traffic jam on a narrow road. Public transport runs only in season.

Nearby

Sarımsaklı beach is below on one side; Ayvalık old town and Cunda are on the other.

Key facts