{{Infobox Turkey place | type = metro district | name = Balçova | image_skyline = Termal Hotel Agamemnon Baths Entry Balcova Izmir.jpg | image_caption = Entry gate of the [[thermal baths]] associated with [[Agamemnon]] in Balçova | image_map = İzmir location Balçova.svg | map_caption = Map showing Balçova District in İzmir Province | coordinates = {{coord|38|23|08|N|27|03|29|E|display=inline}} | province = İzmir | leader_party = CHP | leader_name = Onur Yiğit | leader_name1 = | area_total_km2 = 16 | elevation_m = | population_footnotes = <ref name=tuik/> | population_total = 80721 | population_as_of = 2022 | postal_code = 35980 | area_code = 0232 | website = {{url|http://www.balcova.bel.tr/}} }} '''Balçova''' is a municipality and [[Districts of Turkey|district]] of [[İzmir Province]], [[Turkey]].<ref>[https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx Büyükşehir İlçe Belediyesi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306001414/https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx |date=2023-03-06 }}, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023.</ref> Its area is 16 km<sup>2</sup>,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.harita.gov.tr/uploads/files-folder/il_ilce_alanlari.xlsx|title=İl ve İlçe Yüz ölçümleri|publisher=General Directorate of Mapping|access-date=12 July 2023}}</ref> and its population is 80,721 (2022).<ref name=tuik>{{Cite web |title=Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2022, Favorite Reports|url=https://biruni.tuik.gov.tr/medas/?kn=95&locale=en |access-date=12 July 2023|publisher=[[TÜİK]]|format=XLS}}</ref> It covers the western part of the Greater Metropolitan Area of [[İzmir]]. Balçova is a fully urbanized at the rate of 100 percent. Balçova district area follows the southern coastline of the inner [[Gulf of İzmir]], on the road to [[Çeşme]] and is at a distance of {{convert|8|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} to the west from the traditional center of İzmir ([[Konak, İzmir|Konak]]), which it borders on the east. Balçova district further neighbors the district area [[Narlıdere]] to the south and the west, both of its neighbors being among İzmir's metropolitan districts. Balçova district's overall levels of education are among the highest in Turkey, the literacy rate reaching 98 per cent, while the calculations for average yearly income per inhabitant situate it slightly below the national average, at 4.327 [[US Dollars]], for which its open approach to outside immigration may have played a role. The overall appearance of Balçova leaves the impression of a locality where people are generally educated and who subsist on mid-revenues. The economy is largely based on commerce and tourism, its three shopping malls constituting the backbone for the first range of activities, and its [[thermal baths]] for the second. New [[housing project]]s putting Balçova's advantageous location to benefit and generally aimed at mid- to higher- income residents started to be built in recent years and as such, Balçova became in recent years one of İzmir's metropolitan districts where the economy grew the fastest. Balçova is home to [[İzmir University of Economics]].
==Agamemnon Baths== The baths are well-known since antiquity and the name ancient, and makes reference to a contingent of [[Greek people|Greeks]] under [[Agamemnon]] during the [[Trojan War]] who were led by an oracle to the warm springs to heal their wounds after a battle. [[Aelius Aristides]] had also frequently resorted in the baths and had reported that it was here that [[Asclepius]] had first began to prophesy.
A number of sulfurous [[hot springs]] rise in and around a small stream, which previously dried up in summer, but which is now kept in service all year round thanks to modern installations centered around a five-star hotel. The waters, of a temperature of to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, are considered good for [[rheumatism]], [[sciatica]], [[gallstones]] and [[eczema]]. The baths are remain extremely popular both by themselves and by the thermal establishment's having extended its range of activities also in the field of congress and exhibition tourism.{{efn|In his 1966 archaeological guide on Aegean Turkey, [[George E. Bean]], who remains one of the foremost references for the region, notes that, on the signpost for the baths, Agamemnon had become "Ağamemnun" (''literally, "the [[Agha (Ottoman Empire)|agha]] is contented" in [[Turkish language|Turkish]]''), adding, in time, no doubt, he would become "Memnun Ağa".<ref>{{cite book |title=Aegean Turkey: An archaeological guide |ISBN=978-0-510-03200-5 |year=1967 |author=George E. Bean |publisher=Ernest Benn, [[London]] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/aegeanturkey0000bean}}</ref>}}
==Visitor attractions== [[File:Incalt.JPG|right|200px|thumb|Sea museum and İzmir bay from Inciralti, Balçova]] Two decommissioned ships of the [[Turkish Navy]], a submarine and a frigate, are the main attractions of the [[İnciralti Sea Museum]]. The [[Balçova Gondola]] operates on a nearby hill.
==Composition== There are 8 [[mahalle|neighbourhoods]] in Balçova District:<ref>[https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx Mahalle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306001414/https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx |date=2023-03-06 }}, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023.</ref> {{div col|colwidth=12em}} * Bahçelerarası * Çetin Emeç * Eğitim * Fevziçakmak * [[İnciraltı]] * Korutürk * Onur * Teleferik {{div col end}}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite web | url = http://www.izto.org.tr/NR/rdonlyres/898956C7-DD92-46C6-92D1-F06317523AE9/9335/05_BALÇOVA.pdf | title =Report: Balçova, 42 p. | publisher = İzmir Chamber of Commerce |website=izto.org.tr| year= 2007 |language=tr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101228003418/http://izto.org.tr/NR/rdonlyres/898956C7-DD92-46C6-92D1-F06317523AE9/9335/05_BAL%C3%87OVA.pdf |archive-date=2010-12-28}}
==External links== * [http://www.izmir.bel.tr İzmir Metropolitan Municipality] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040407162035/http://www.izmir.bel.tr/ |date=2004-04-07 }}
{{Districts of Turkey|provname=İzmir|image=İzmir|sortkey=Balcova}} {{İzmir}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balcova}} [[Category:Balçova| ]] [[Category:Populated coastal places in Turkey]] [[Category:Populated places in İzmir Province]] [[Category:Districts of İzmir Province]] [[Category:Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey]]