“Devil’s Feast”
Six km south of Ayvalik, Şeytan Sofrası is a lofty plateau (124m), originally called Çanak Tepe, to which people flock in their hundreds to watch the sun set over a spectacular view of the bay and the surrounding islands including Lesbos (Midilli). The municipality lays on buses to get people there and back which makes it easy for those without cars but ensures everyone arrives at the same time.
There is apparently an admission fee to the site now. In high summer the cafes on the plateau are jam-packed which mildly detracts from the sense of setting.
Why is the peak called the Devil’s Feast? It’s a story that appear to have two parts. In the first, the Greek gods agreed to toss the Devil out of heaven (probably Mt Ida (Kazdağı), a task assigned to the moon goddess, Selene. In an attempt to save himself the Devil supposedly placed one foot on the isladn of Lesbos (Mytilene) and the other right here on a site now protected by a metal grille. As for the feast, story has it that famine had broken out in nearby Ayvalık at a time when a woman named Penelope was living a hermit’s life on the summit. The Greek clergy riled up the locals by claiming that she was the cause of the famine. But by the time a lynch mob descended on the summit Penelope had prepared a feast for them, thereby distracting them for long enough to make her escape. In reality the summit is shaped pretty much like a sofra, or eating area.
Transport info
The local bus, timed to get passengers to the summit in time for sunset, leaves from south of Tansaş in Ayvalik. The service allows visitors a couple of hours on the plateau. Or you could make the 2km ascent to the Sofra on foot.
