Izmir trip part 3/5

IZMIR - SMYRNA

After visiting Ephesus, The House of Virgin Mary and Sirince, we went to Izmir to stay with Ece, Elif's niece, for a couple of days. Elif's sister and her daughter were also there for two more days before flying back to Denmark so we had fun spending some good time together.

About Izmir

After Istanbul and Ankara, Izmir is Turkey's third largest city and second largest port city. It has a population of approx. 3.7 million people. The city has almost 3.500 years of recorded history. The ancient city carried the Greek name Smyrna and it was called like that until Turkish Law made Izmir an international recognized name in 1930. Until the Greco - Turkish war (1919 -1922) the majority of the population was Greek. Athens had taken control over the entire Aegean region.

Wikitravel.org:... "rising tensions led to the outbreak of war as the Greeks purshed further into the heart of Anatolia in an attempt to unite the Greek communities of Asia Minor. Led by Kemal Ataturk the Turkish army launched a counter-attack and seized the city. Soon thereafter 70% of the city burned to the ground by the Turkish forces. The 'Great Fire' ended multinational authority of the city and the Greek and Armenian populations were expelled." To this day the war and especially the fire are one of the biggest, most traumatic disasters this city has ever experienced.  The Greek influence is still noticable everywhere in the Aegean region, especially in architecture and wine production.

An interesting fact about Izmir is that it's composed of former independed districts and neighborhoods. Buca, Bornova, Balçova, Çiğli, Gaziemir, Güzelbahçe, Karşıyaka, Konak and Narlıdere among other metropolitan districts each have their own center and stood on their own until they had been brought together by the İzmir Büyükşehir Belediyesi.

Today, Izmir is a cosmopolite city with more of a Mediterranean European flair rather than a traditional Turkish one. But it also is a city of big contrast. Big areas of slums form the background to glass fronted buildings, big boulevards and fancy shopping malls in town.

The clock tower on Konak square is an iconic symbol of the city.

After this visit, to me Izmir is the city of:

Atatürk

Ferry boat trips to cross the city

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Walks along the coast line in Kordon and saying no to Gipsy's reading 'Fal' (your destiny) off the palm of your hand

Long shopping streets and stylish women (didn't catch so many on camera though)

Gecekondu's (slums) against the background of the hills

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Mevlana (Rumi)

The view from our apartment. Mevlana looking out over the city and sea from the top of a hill.

I love this pigeon for landing on the hand on the right moment to shoot this beautiful picture:)

One of Rumi's most well known poems:

"Come, come whoever you are, 
Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving,
Come, even if you have broken your vows a hundred times, 
This door is not the door of despair,come as you are."

138 Sokak, Buca

Beautiful street with great restaurants, nice café's, live music and lots of people in the evening.

Big toasts for lunch

Forum Bornova shopping area and Ikea

When you live in a place like Alanya with (very) little furniture and deco shops to your taste, a trip to Ikea is comparible with going to Disneyland. I hated the crowds there back in Holland, but here I really don't care.

And finally and mostly: Cozy evenings with sweet, beautiful and very talented Ece and private performances from her and her friends, all of them students at the conservatoire. They made me wish I was 21 again and studying music.