That's because, of course, it's one of those towns that lacks a killer attraction, the sort of drawcard that will persuade people to embark on 12-hour bus rides or expensive domestic flights for the sheer pleasure of anticipation.

That's not to say, however, that Balıkesir is completely without things to see. It is, for example, the unexpected last resting place of a man whose name is more normally linked to that of İstanbul. Zağanos Paşa was father-in-law and grand vizier to Sultan Mehmet II (“the Conqueror”) and was by his side in the years before he captured Constantinople when they were planning the siege of the city. Thus it was that he took part in the building of the huge fortress at Rumeli Hisarı that made it possible for the Ottomans to cut off the Byzantine supply lines. Accordingly, one of the stupendous towers there still bears his name today.

Zağanos Paşa is buried in the Yeşilli Cami, Balıkesir's main mosque, in a little hexagonal tomb tacked on at the rear, alongside his wife, Sitti Nefise Hanım. It's unclear exactly when the first mosque was built on the site, but it was certainly laid low by an earthquake in 1897 and had to be completely rebuilt. Now it stands in the center of a thriving market area, which basks in a particular reputation for its cheeses. These can be found on sale in many of the local stores, although foodies will want to head for the specially designated Peynir Pazarı (Cheese Market) in search of the locally made kelle peyniri, a holey white sheep cheese. It's a tad unfortunate, then, that this is housed on the ground floor of a multistory parking lot right beside the public toilets. Fortunately, these days most of the cheese is sold in plastic wrapping so that that isn't quite the disaster it might once have been.

Near the cheese market, the covered market (“hal”) is a rather more inviting place in which to mooch about for an hour or so. There are cheeses on sale here, too, and you'll also come across some delightfully old-fashioned spice shops selling remedies for every ailment you've ever heard of, plus some you won't have heard of.

The historic heart of old Balıkesir is a striking clock tower that dates back to 1827. The original was apparently designed to look like the Galata Tower in İstanbul but was destroyed in the 1897 earthquake. It was replaced in 1902 with today's more conventional five-story offering which retains the Arabic numerals on its clock faces and is topped off with a little wooden kiosk and an onion-shaped dome. The clock tower was pleasingly restored in 1962 and now serves as the symbol of the town.

Nearby is Balıkesir's excellent and seriously under-visited small museum, which is housed inside a building where the Alacamescid Toplantası was held on May 18, 1919. During the course of this meeting local people determined to resist the occupation of the İzmir region by the Greek army, one of the first steps in the Turkish War of Independence, and an event widely and proudly commemorated around town.

Balıkesir was itself the ancient Palaeokastron (“Old Castle”) of Roman and Byzantine times. However, because the town is the provincial capital, its museum houses finds from archeological sites all over the district, including those from Cyzicus, the once hugely important town near Erdek on the Sea of Marmara. If you're planning to tour around the Balıkesir area, it's well worth dropping into the museum (closed Mondays) first since there's plenty of information in English as well as several good maps showing the location of the less well-known sites.

On the surface Balıkesir is not a town that seems to have much time for its past, although a photograph in the museum makes plain that it would once have been a beautiful place full of tile-roofed wooden buildings. Today the high street is relentlessly modern and you need to be quite determined to track down any older buildings that are not either derelict or vandalized. The best place to start exploring is the hilly area behind the clock tower where Kazım Özalp Caddesi still retains many old Ottoman houses in varying states of repair. Uphill, the department of fine arts of the local university is housed in a fine 19th-century building, and up here, too, you'll find a simple mosque dating back to the 14th century, a rare reminder that there was still a settlement on the site in the Middle Ages.

Aside from Zağanos Paşa one other significant person is buried in the town center in a gracefully curvaceous tomb immediately across the road from the fish market. Karesi Bey was a 14th-century local emir who set up the beylik of the Karesioğulları that held control of the surrounding area until the Ottomans snatched it in 1345. Like so much else in Balıkesir, the original tomb fell foul of the 1897 earthquake and was rebuilt in 1922. No one knows who's buried beside Karesi Bey although it would be reasonable to assume it was members of his family.

For most people, Balıkesir will be a place to while away a couple of hours in between buses. It is, however, a possible base for a visit to Gönen, a little to the north, which is a small town with a big reputation as a spa resort. At Gönen water gushes out of the ground at a scalding and constant 73 degrees Celsius, which is sensibly reduced before bathers are permitted to enter it. Inevitably it's said to be therapeutic for a wide range of health problems, including rheumatism and assorted heart and circulatory malfunctions. As a result, three huge spa hotels -- the Güneş, Yeşil and Yıldız -- have been built around the central park, and residents have use of the baths in their basements. These are all perfectly clean and modern, if somewhat low on the oriental charm front. All three are run by the same management and can be booked through www.gonenkaplicalari.com (Tel.: 0 [266] 762 18 40).

Aside from bathing in the spas, there's not a great deal to do in Gönen, which was given a complete makeover in 2008. The most attractive area is around the park, where you'll find the scant remains of a Byzantine church with mosaic floor unattractively covered over with a roof and rendered inaccessible. Otherwise this is a great place to come and watch the Turks at play, and there are street upon street of small family-run pensions offering rooms at very reasonable prices, and plenty of small lokantas offering meals that won't leave a dent in your wallet. Expect everything to be crammed to capacity over the Kurban Bayramı (Feast of the Sacrifice) holiday.

In a footnote to history, Gönen was the birthplace of Ömer Seyfettin (1884-1920), the man largely responsible for purging Turkish of many of its Persian and Arabic borrowings.

WHERE TO STAY

Hotel Bengi Tel.:

0 (266) 244 10 10

Hotel Grand Yılmaz Tel.:

0 (266) 249 18 74

Otel Çömlek Tel.:

0 (266) 249 27 83

HOW TO GET THERE

It's easy to get to Balıkesir either by bus from Bandırma or from Edremit on the Aegean coast. The bus station is some way out of town and there are no servis buses, just a normal town bus service, which results in some unnecessary hanging about. Gönen is accessible by bus either from Balıkesir or from Bandırma (for times of the seabuses from Yenikapı to Bandırma, go to www.ido.com.tr).  

 Balıkesir Museum

 Old Balıkesir

  The clock tower

Yeşilli Camii