Terme Havza

Terme Havza draws bicarbonated geothermal springs in the inland city of Havza in Samsun province, a thermal resort in the green highlands of the Pontic coastal range that descend to the Black Sea coast of Samsun, the port city where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk landed on 19 May 1919 to launch the Turkish War of Independence from Anatolia after the Allied occupation of Istanbul, a date now celebrated as Youth and Sports Day throughout Turkey. The spa at Havza was used by Atatürk himself during the independence struggle for rest and recuperation, and the historic bath complex retains a connection to the founding period of the Turkish Republic that gives it a national historical significance beyond its therapeutic function. The bicarbonated springs of Havza, valued for relaxation and muscular comfort, flow in a highland setting of walnut forests and Black Sea mountain meadows that represents the cool, green upland character of the Pontic range, very different from the arid Anatolian plateau visible just south of the mountains.