Kıyıköy, formerly Midye, ancient/medieval Medea ( bg, Мидия, el, Μήδεια), is a small town on the Black Sea coast in the district of

Vize Vize ( el, Βιζύη, bg, Виза) is a town and district of Kırklareli Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. The district governor is Elif Canan Tuncer, and the mayor is Ercan Özalp ( CHP). According to the Turkish Statistical Institu ...

Kırklareli Province Kırklareli Province ( tr, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province in northwestern Turkey on the west coast of the Black Sea. The province neighbours Bulgaria to the north along a long border. It borders the province of Edirne to the west and the ...

in northwestern Turkey. It is from Vize and away from Kırklareli. The population of Kıyıköy was 2,077 according to the 2010 National Census.It became a municipality in 1987. Fishing, forestry and tourism are the main local sources of income. The town has a small beach while the surrounding area is covered by dense forest mainly of oak. Two streams, the Kazandere and the Pabuçdere, surround the town in the south and north respectively and flowi into the Black Sea. The Kasatura Bay Nature Reserve Area is south of the town along the Black Sea and offers a pristine forest and beach. The only naturally growing grove of black pine (''

Pinus nigra ''Pinus nigra'', the Austrian pine or black pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across Southern Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the eastern Mediterranean, on the Anatolian peninsula of Turkey, Corsica and Cyprus, as wel ...

'') in Turkish

Rumelia Rumelia ( ota, روم ايلى, Rum İli; tr, Rumeli; el, Ρωμυλία), etymologically "Land of the Names of the Greeks#Romans (Ῥωμαῖοι), Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians f ...

is found here. The town hosts the onshore terminal of the Turkstream pipeline from Russia.

History

Kıyıköy is identified with

Salmydessus Salmydessus or Salmydessos ( grc, Σαλμυδησσός), also Halmydessus or Halmydessos (Ἁλμυδισσός), was a coast-town of ancient Thrace, on the Euxine, about northwest of the entrance of the Bosporus. The eastern offshoots of the Ha ...

, where according to Greek mythology the

Argonauts The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, '' Argo'', ...

rescued Phineus from the

Harpies In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, a harpy (plural harpies, , ; lat, harpȳia) is a half-human and half-bird personification of storm winds. They feature in Homeric poems. Descriptions They were generally depicted as birds with the head ...

.Later it became Medea/Midye, a name which means merely 'Middle' in Greek. It was occupied by

Imperial Russian The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

troops after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, and later by

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

s and Greeks following the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

of 1912-1913. According to the

Treaty of London The Treaty of London or London Convention or similar may refer to: *Treaty of London (1358), established a truce between England and France following the Battle of Poitiers *Treaty of London (1359), which ceded western France to England *Treaty of ...

, the border of the Ottoman Empire passed through the town for a brief period after the First Balkan War; the border was known as the "Midye-

Enez Enez is a town and a district of Edirne Province, in Thrace, Turkey. The ancient name of the town was Ainos ( el, Αίνος), Latinised as Aenus. The mayor is Özkan Günenç ( CHP). The population is 10,886 as of 2018. Enez consists of an old t ...

Line" ( tr, Midye-Enez Hattı) or the Enos-Midia line since the town's name was still Midye at the time. The border was moved further west after the Ottomans regained some territory after the Second Balkan War. According to the terms of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey that took place in 1923, the mostly Greek and

Christian residents of the town were replaced by Turks from Thessaloniki in Greece because of their wide knowledge of maritime matters. In 1960, the settlement's name was changed from Midye to Kıyıkent because the former was regarded as a foreign-language name.''Medea'' remains a Roman Catholic titular see

Turkstream pipeline

In 2020 the Turkstream ( Turkish: ''TürkAkım;'' Russian: Турецкий поток), a double gas pipeline from Anapa near Krasnodar in Russia, linked up with Kıyıköy and went into service. One pipeline continues to Lüleburgaz and supplies Turkey. The second is intended for other countries although its onward route is yet to be determined. It cost €11.4 billion.

Places of interest

St. Nicholas' Monastery ( tr, Aya Nikolas Manastırı) ( el, Μονὴ του Ἁγίου Νικόλαου) is a rock-cut Byzantine era

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

monastery, built during the time of Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527-565). It is situated about southwest of the town. The monastery consists of a ground-floor chapel with cells for the monks and storerooms. The basement contains a holy well (hagiasma) ( tr, ayazma) ( el, ἁγίασμα). The monastery was renovated in 1856 by Metropolitan bishop Matthaios, who also built a wooden annex in front of it (it no longer exists). An inscription reading "St. Nikolas" in Greek lettering is engraved over the arched north entrance. Kıyıköy Fortress ( tr, Kıyıkent Kalesi) is a fortification, also built during the reign of Justinian Il, that surrounds most of the old town. Examination of the mortar used suggests that it was renovated in the 9th and 10th centuries. The fortress is constructed on a hillside stretching to the coast between Pabuçdere in the north and Kazandere in the south. Its eastern part is completely ruined. The walls were built with cut stone and rubble masonry and are, in some places, thick and high. The walls around the second gate reach a height of . They probably rose to near the (lost) second watchtower. A wide defensive

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

stretched between the third and the sixth watchtower. A hidden gate to the south of the southern walls was connected to the fortress by 180 steps. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism restored the Vize Gate using stone, bricks and wood in 1991.

References

External links

Official website of the municipality of Kıyıköy

Miscellaneous images of Kırklareli - Kıyıköy

Kıyıköy Hotel

Kırklareli - Kıyıköy service, santral website

History, Beaches, Regional Geography for Kıyıköy

Nature and sea photos, Human and house pictures for Kıyıköy

Kıyıköy Otels, Hostels and Motels with Price
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiyikoy Villages in Vize District Medea Fishing communities in Turkey Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Tourist attractions in Kırklareli Province Seaside resorts in Turkey