Izmir trip part 4/5

FOCA - ÖZDERE - KUŞADASI

The first day in Izmir we were together with Elif's sister and her daughter, who were leaving for Denmark the next day. So we decided to go out and explore Foca for the day. Foca is about 70 km northwest of Izmir. It's a pretty little town right by the crystal blue Aegean Sea, busy in summer but pretty quiet during the rest of the year. Many parts of the district are under environmental protection. The coast line has many bays and coves and I was told that in summer you can take the boat to some of them to visit the famous seals in the area.

Foca has some beautiful old stone houses, some of them have been turned into boutique hotels.

We had a our private tour guide this day; Davut, photographer and a friend of Elif and her sister. He spoke perfect French too, has lived there for many years and used to work for Club Med (like I did once, in another life) so that was funny.

He showed us around and caught a sea urchin for us. He said you can just cut them open and eat the inside.. I was so relieved when he decided to through the poor prickled thing back into the sea.

Özdere

We left Izmir after 5 days and decided to cruise along the coast before getting back to Denizli.

We drove southwards and first passed by Özdere, a small place right by the coast. We started off with a breakfast in a small cafe along the main street..

After stuffing ourselves with delicious pogača bread and vitamins we walked down to the sea for a walk along the beach...

... and through the pretty streets. Most of the houses here are holiday residences. It was still early in the season so most of the homes were still empty as their owners live in the cities or abroad most of the year. We were told by some permanent residents (who moved here from München (Germany) after their retirement) that it only gets busy during summer, the rest of the year it's really really quiet.

We didn't stay too long. After our walk we continued along the green and blue coast line on the way to Kuşadası.

Kuşadası

Kuşadası is a popular holiday destination for so many tourists every year, a bit like Alanya but smaller. I have heard a lot about it but had never been there before. We strolled around the center, along the boulevard and through the bazaar, shopped for shoes, had lunch and ice cream in the sun and then visited relatives of Elif who live close by. All in all a lovely first visit for just a couple of hours, before continue on the road back to Denizli in the evening.