Izmir

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Our time in Izmir was truly amazing thanks to the people we met at the Shantihome hostel where we stayed four days. Every day, we hung out we very special individuals.

The tasty and filling breakfast buffet, served on coffee tables, and the comfortable sofas forcing us to eat next to each other, hence talk, is a magic formula!

Ahmed and Ramtin

We took a 12-hour train from Konya to Izmir during the night. It stopped 30 times along the way, the staff shouted to notify the passengers at every stop. And the lights were on all night. The reclining seats were less comfortable than on airplanes. My eyes had the feeling that the air was drier than on airplanes. You could think it was because of the heating, however I am not sure, because it was a bit cold. I have not slept much since it was very uncomfortable.

Traveling at night can save you time and money. However, it causes significant fatigue, if you can’t get decent sleep.

After a 30-minute walk under a light rain, we arrived at the hostel for the breakfast, where we met Adam, Ahmed, Basil, Joe, Mohammed, and Ramtin. This encounter was significant for the rest of the stay. Making the breakfast available only from 9 to 10, a short time window, with limited food, forces people to be there approximately at the same time!

After finishing the breakfast, Ahmed declared to all of us that he didn’t have specific plans for the day and that he was opened to join if any of us would like to. Y took the opportunity to share our plans for the day and as it was also matching Ramtin’s, the four of us decided to spend the day together in the city center.

Ahmed is an Egyptian working in Qatar as an engineer in the construction sector. He is long term coach surfing host. We noticed he was extremely social and easy-going, because even if we don’t really travel the same way, it went smoothly. He had rented a car from the airport and carried a massive backpack.

Ramtin is a Canadian-Persian, living in Toronto. He completed his bachelor in psychology recently and runs a health startup focusing on personalized drinks. He recently converted to Islam.

We walked on the waterfront from the hostel to the Clock Tower, with detours in museums, restaurants, and shops. We stopped at the Ataturk Museum, which is inside a house where Ataturk used to stay when he was on a trip to Konya. The free museum is not very interesting compared to the museum of the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara. However, it was the occasion to see the inside of a wealthy house from this region. We then headed to the Arkas Art Center, there was a free exhibition about two Turkish artists (Nejad Devrim and Mübin Orhon) who have spent a significant part of the life in France. We then wandered in Konak Pier, a half empty shopping mall designed by Gustave Eiffel, where the good spots are taken by restaurant terraces. We had tea in the courtyard of Kızlarağası, fish in a restaurant next to a fish shop with the same name, mulberry juice in the bazaar, desserts, and cheap and comforting pasta near the hostel.

Whenever there was the Adhan (call to prayer), Ramtin was going to the mosque. Once we were supposed to meet at the clock tower. As Ramtin didn’t have any battery left, he told us he found his way with his sense of direction, and also thanks to “the wind direction” guiding him to the seaside.

Joe

Joe, short for Joseph, is a blond, bearded American travelling the world – he does cover a lot of places – for about a year in his father footsteps. He is reporting his adventures in this blog: https://joecomer.blogspot.com/. I really enjoyed reading it, and I am waiting for more!

On the second day, we went to the ancient city of Ephesus in Ahmed’s car, with the gang from the previous day, plus Joe. The entrance to the archeological site was 700 liras (24 euros), and there are several additions you can buy. We chose the main ticket only. There are two entrances and a parking lot at each. We started at the secondary entrance, so we did the visit against the tide, which was massive on that afternoon.

As no audio guide and were available, we downloaded an app and had the audio explanation on our phone. The explanations sometimes make more sense if you are starting from the main entrance.

The highlights of the visit were the Library of Celsus and the view of the road to the harbor from the Great Theater. The city center density is impressive, as we can see many great monuments in such a small area.

The big picture of the site provided by the model at the main entrance is nice to imagine the city at its prime.

After visiting the main site, we took the car for a short drive and went to see the temple (or what’s left of it) of Artemis, which is one of the ancient Wonders of the World. Almost no one was there, but we could read about how sumptuous the site was before.

Adam, Basil, and Mohammad

On day 3, we were planning to go to the Çeşme peninsula to enjoy the beach. Basil reached out to us on that morning to plan how we would meet there. We decided to go together to Ilica beach in the city of Alaçatı. There is one bus per hour for Çeşme. When we arrived at the terminal (not that easy to find), there was one seat left, so we had to wait for more than an hour.

We met with the three boys at the very right edge of the beach. At first, they were very skeptical, especially Adam, about the choice of the beach. To be fair, it was not looking good even compared to the seaside in front of their hotel (which was not even a sand beach). As we walked towards the center, it became nicer and nicer. Admittedly, there were still a few cigarette butts where we settled. It was still a super 5-star beach: white sand, shallow water, beautiful weather. We could not find functional showers. Was it because it was low season? Many restaurants were closed. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the nicest and closest restaurant we could find, since Adam was proudly crumbling under the weight of all his luggage. After booking the bus at 8:15 pm, we had some sweets at a dessert restaurant. We ate a sweet dessert with chicken (Tavukgöğsü) yes the recipe uses chicken breast. It did not taste chicken, but you can feel the fibers of the meat, providing it with a special texture.

Basil and Mohammad are Jordanian software developers. They are young, easy-going, Muslims, funny and caring. On the beach, Mohammad was throwing sharp stones away, so people would not get hurt stepping on them. They invited us to share their food at the restaurant. They walked with us to the bus terminal and waited until we left. And they paid attention to many small details that make your life better and safer without being intrusive. I definitely did not expect the conversions to be that smooth and enriching. They were curious about what we had to say and shared very interesting aspects of their culture.

Adam is an Australian Singaporean Muslim with Malay, Indonesian, Chinese and Japanese descent. He had been travelling for 14 months and has been backpacking since he is 16. He is a commissioned officer in the Singaporean army, specialized in EOD (explosive ordnance disposal). We discussed his PhD in sociology quite a bit; he studied racialized romantic preferences in the English-speaking world. We also talked about some negative aspect of the laid back Australian culture and how Australia is, to some extent, sadly racially segregated. It is a shame he does not write about his travels because his perspectives are very valuable.

Adam decided to finish the day heading back with us to Shantihome and we ended the day chatting with him and Ramtin that we saw once again met on the hostel balcony.

Gencay

On the 4th day, we met Gencay during the breakfast and decided to visit Izmir together. We went to the Asansör (Elevator Building) and the Archaeological and Ethnography Museum. We had a tea at Kızlarağası Inn as we did on the first day and had some delicious pistachio, almond and walnut pastes in a shop just outside of it.

After we split with Gencay, we took the ferry from Konak (historical center) to Bostanli (north shore). The views from the waters were worth it. The atmosphere in the Bostanli park was pretty different from the center of the city, more hipster. We found a nice spot to watch the sunset on the planks near the water. Two old folks were extorting cigarettes from teenagers. The same folks played a few notes on the guitar and asked for money all around very insistently. We had some decent vegan food. On our way back home, there were a lot of young people dressed up to go out on the ferry.

At the hostel, Gencay was there along with 3 Turks (a couple from Izmir and their friend living in Italy), friends with the hostel manager. Gencay shared some raki (anise flavor, diluted in water like pastis), a guest shared some honeydew, the Turks offered mussels stuffed with rice, puff pastries and an interesting drink. The Doğanay Şalgam (drink) is prepared via fermentation of black carrot, turnip, boiled and pounded wheat. The couple invited us to stay at their place, but we could not because our flight to Uzbekistan was coming soon. We talked about inflation and how often the salaries would be adjusted. It must be tough to keep up when your salary increases once a year and the prices visibly increase every few weeks.

Gencay is a Turk who had just graduated as a dentist. He was travelling Turkey for a few months before specializing, trying to find out which city would be the best fit for his specialization. He is extremely nice, tall, vegan, an animal lover who enjoys the company of Europeans. Among the people we’ve met, he was the most interested in the history of the city. He seemed annoyed by the dirt roads in the central bazaar and the ugly and poorly built buildings. Except for his expectations regarding good infrastructure, I think Montreal would be a great fit for him!