Blogs from Izmir, Aegean, Turkey, Middle East

The Adventure Begins Well, I have been in Turkey for a little over four days now and have been going pretty much non stop. I arrived at 4pm Friday the 21st of May where Suna, my boss Hakan’s daughter, picked me up at the airport and drove us to downtown Istanbul. We went to a posh little area called Bebek which is right on the Bosporus canal. Hakan would be embarrassed for me to tell you that the first thing I did upon arriving in Turkey was to go to a Starbucks, but such is life. It had a lovely view and I sat and enjoyed one of the best lattes I have ever had with Suna and her cousin. Later we met up with Hakan and had dinner at a restaurant nearby. After that Hakan ... read more

Thank you Turkey Today, I am sick. Achy, sore throat kind of sick. Maybe because our tour is over? I don’t know. Currently, we are in Imzir. One of the known oldest urban settlements in the world with over 3,500 years of history. (not swag) This was to be our shopping stop, our vacation from our vacation. And I would get sick. Figures. Don’t worry tho, I have still shopped. I didn’t have to come all the way to Turkey to learn about kindness, but that is what I have found here with the Turkish people. I am overwhelmed with the kindness of the men here, something I didn’t expect. A couple of examples that I experienced today which illustrates my whole two weeks in Turkey experience. Cay. Did I tell you Turkish tea, Cay is ... read more

Izmir day 2 The hotel breakfast was adequate. Bread, cheese, tomatoes, boiled eggs, olives and so on so pretty much the regular. No coffee, but we fixed that soon enough. Izmir archaeological museum is nothing spectacular, but pleasant enough. There were a few nice pieces, the mosaic was good. Most of the really good stuff from Izmir province is in Istanbul, London and Berlin. The rest is in Selcuk. There is a Hellenistic bronze of an athlete running - probably the best piece in the museum. After the museum we grabbed a taxi up to the Kale (castle). The views were great. But thre is not much of the castle left. They are excavating the cisterns as there used to be a complex water distribution system. We walked back down as there are steps so you ... read more

Izmir The train from Selcuk to Izmir was pleasant enough and terminates in central Izmir unlike the bus which terminates some miles out at the Otogar. Izmir is hot. Car and truck fumes add to the sense of heat. Its a busy modern city with all the usual confusion that can bring. We had simit and some very, very nice cake from a baker (carrot and walnut cake - just moist enough and not too sweet). We found a locally made kitchen range of ovens and hobs. This included a combination electric and gas hob, the whole range seemed to be modular, and looked to be akin to NEF stuff in quality. The museums are closed on Monday The bazar was neat. Staying near Basmane train station has its drawbacks. There are a few bars open ... read more

After half a days driving yesterday I decided to have a relax day. Catch up on my email, finally write something in this blog and just chill. Went to the barber today, I had enough of lookıng like a muppet every time I took my helmet off. Tomorrow Antalya, see ıf I can catch some beach time. Planning to drive along the coast, it´s goıng to be a long drive but I thınk a beautiful one.... read more

İ love turkey!!! so after supper last night i just went to bed and read and watched a little bbc world before bed (only station of 20 in english). slept in a bit this morning and then headed out to see some sights in İzmir. The waterfront is beautiful. Lined with cafes and restaurants (too expensive for my taste heh), lots of people around to watch. There are a couple of nice squares along the way with monuments to people İ dont know, altho i'm sure some are for Atatürk or however you spell his name. He pretty much founded the present day Turkey back in the 20's and brought all kinds of reforms like ditching the arabic alphabet and bringing in the Roman one and ridding them of foreign words and such. He also made ... read more

Wszystko sie zmienilo, swiat chwilowo wywrocil sie do gory nogami:((( Gdy w srode pisalam o stanie zdrowia Arka, byl to pierwszy dzien kiedy wreszcie opadły emocje, wreszcie mogłam zostawić go na chwile samego. Wreszcie wyszlam ze szpitala. Przechadzalam się ulicami Izmiru cieszac sie, ze nie bedzie operowany, a jednoczesnie czujac ogrony smutek, ze w poniedzielek wroci do Polski i przez rok nie bedzie mogl wsiasc na rower. Wlasciwie ten smutek, przyslanial radosc z tego, ze mimo powaznego wylewu do mozgu, nic mu nie jest i ze w 100 procentach jest caly i zdrowy! Ok 19stej wrocilam z internetu do szpitala. Arek siedzial w lozku caly dumny i blady, bo mimo przeciwskazan lekarzy wstal, umyl sie, ogolil oraz przebral w nowa pizame. Bylam troche zla, ze dopiero co lepiej się poczul, a juz wstaje. Rozumialam jednak tez, ... read more