Yalova - Thermal Baths

A wooded valley a few kilometers southwest of the city center is the site of Yalova's well known thermal springs (Yalova Kaplicalar, formerly Kury or, in French, Coury), famous since antiquity, the Pythia of the Argonaut legend and called Soteropolis in Byzantine times. Over the centuries their iron-, carbon- and sulfur-rich waters (65°C/149°F) have brought relief to Greeks and Romans, Byzantine emperors (Constantine the Great, Justinian), the Empress Theodora and a string of Seljuk and Ottoman potentates. Atatürk regularly "took the waters" here as well (Atatürk House). The baths, recently modernized, with new hotels and treatment facilities, are among the most highly regarded in the Near East, particularly for kidney, bladder, rheumatic and nervous complaints.