Canakkale is a city, small and intimate, yet speaking of events written large in the annals of history, on a waterway -the Dardanelles- once so coveted by seafaring nations that eight castles stood along its shores. It is a place to relax and explore, of unexpected pleasures and treasures, a modern city, the regional capital, yet with buildings dating back hundreds of years and nearby up to two hundred sites from antiquity.

History of the town: Once just a marsh inhabited by frogs, Canakkale burst into life in 1462 when Sultan Mehmet II built two large fortresses here, at the narrowest point along the Dardanelles, to prevent the Venetians and Genoese sailing up to recapture Istanbul, which he had newly conquered. From this beginning, a town grew, populated by artisans, maritime traders and potters workshops. Gypsies, Greeks, Armenians, foreign merchants and then Cretan and Balkan immigrants each occupied separate quarters, until by the late 19th. Century it had consulates representing 14 different countries and villas spread along the waterfront.