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Published: January 4th 2023
October 13 – 16, 2022
The next stop on our few days away from Marmaris where Tsamaya is quietly waiting for our return was the city of Izmir. In actual fact, it was definitely not high at all on our list of places to visit in Turkey. It really wasn’t on the list at all, but we wound up adding it to our itinerary due to the bus schedules! Yes, we first thought we’d just go to Pamakkale and Bodrum before returning to Marmaris, but in trying to get from Bodrum to Marmaris, it wasn’t such an easy task by bus. It seemed crazy that it was easy to get to Bodrum, but the return was going to be quite long and almost meant we’d have to stop someplace to make decent connections. It appeared that there wasn’t any place that popped out as a place to visit, so when we found we could easily get from Izmir to Marmaris, it was added to our trip. In doing our research, it didn’t appear that there were many things to draw us there so only booked 2 nights which we found in the end was plenty. Fortunately, the buses here in
Turkey are very inexpensive and the hotels are too, so a couple of days finding out what we can see in Izmir worked!
As I have mentioned in numerous blog posts, the buses are inexpensive and fortunately I found a couple of apps that I can use to get good deals on tickets. As an example, for the 3 ¾ hour bus trip from Bodrum to Izmir the total costs for both of us together was $28. The most expensive bus trip we have taken during these couple of weeks away from Marmaris was a 4 ½ hour trip for a total of $34. I do have to remind you though when I say that the bus trips are inexpensive – it is true for us as foreigners – not so inexpensive for those that live here permanently as the wages are not very high at all. We as Americans were benefiting from the currency exchange rate as it kept changing in our favor. As an example, when we first came to Turkey, $1 would get us 7 TL (Turkish Lira) but now that same $1 gets us 17 TL. Good for tourists, but definitely not good for the
Sorry About the Photo Quality
but lots of olive trees and fields of cottonlocals that live here at all. As foreigners, we do need to remember that what we can easily do such as travel by bus and eat out inexpensively, is not something that locals have the luxury of.
Izmir is another city that can be reached by water, but after being there a couple of days, we are just as glad that we can cross it off our list of places to aim for next season. Don’t get me wrong, it worked out fine, but we were just glad that we didn’t spend more time there. In reading about Izmir, it mentioned that there was a very large bazaar which was compared to Istanbul. As we enjoyed poking around the bazaar area there, we thought it was something we would enjoy doing in Izmir. At least without a long list of places that we “must” visit while there took the pressure off of our time and allowed us to take it easy wandering around the area to see what we could find of interest.
With Izmir being a large, modern city, they do have an extensive tram system which helped with getting around to the various areas. A nice
plus, but we also enjoyed just wandering around and turning down any street or alley that caught our eye and seeing what we’d find. We weren’t sure of the cost of the tram so wondered about having the right amount of cash to buy the ticket out of the machine, but found out that you could easily pay with your credit card -what a bonus!
One of the days worked out great as we wandered down a pedestrian walkway. It turned out to be a dead end, but had a wonderful small restaurant where we had a great meal. The seating was outside, but we quickly found out it was self-serve so you went in, got a plate and enjoyed trying new things off the buffet. It wasn’t labelled so you took your chances and just tried a variety of dishes. We both wound up with a delicious meal with many new dishes we had never seen before. What a great treat!
One area down by the water that was written about in the guide books is the Konak Pier so took a wander to see it. It was actually built by Gustaf Eiffel (yes, the one
Izmir Is Definitely a Large City
complete with an outlet mall on the way there in the same that designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris). It was originally built as a Customs Dock back in 1890. Izmir was a major port of imports; therefore, the need was great for the customs dock. Over the years, it did changed purpose as it became a fish market in the early 1960s. It is currently an upscale shopping area complete with numerous restaurants and great views of the harbor. As it was near dinner time when we arrived, we picked one of the many restaurants to eat at and enjoyed it while watching the sunset. Bob decided to have fish for dinner and as a result he had a friendly and very patient cat as an active observer while he ate. We really were impressed with the patience of the cat so figured it must do very well when it comes to getting a reward of some fish sometime during the day. No matter where we go, we always are sure to have a cat or two (or three or four) to enjoy!
In the short time that we were in Izmir, we found ourselves walking by the waterfront a couple of times. They have developed it
Lots of Bus Companies to Choose From Here
the local schedule we needed assistance with! very nicely for multiple use by having a lovely bike path, a separate walking path and then even have a small “train” that can drive people back and forth if they aren’t up to the walk. The green space that they left here seemed to be well used by those just sitting together to visit or have a picnic meal and they have installed a few sculptures as well. Of course, the seawall is also lined with plenty of people fishing. This area seemed to be well used no matter what time of day we were there. There are even ferry stops for those that need to travel to other areas along the harbor.
We decided to visit the Izmir History and Art Museum which we found consisted of two separate buildings – one for sculpture and artifacts from the historic sites in the area and the other for paintings. It was started in 2004. The sculptures dates from the Archaic, Hellenistic and Roman periods and they did an excellent job of explaining many of the differences in their descriptions that were both in Turkish and English. Many of the pieces that were on display here were from the
One of the Strangest Combinations I've Had!
chicken curry with cheese, spaghetti & spiced fries well known historic sites such as Ephesus, Pergamon and the agora in Izmir itself.
The Art Gallery was well laid out with art from the Ottoman Period of Reform (1839-1876) up through current times. This time period gave way to art that blended western themes such as still lifes and the use of light-shadow and perspective with those of the traditional hand-drawn paintings that had been done on walls and ceilings. Impressionist artists that had been training in Europe during WWII returned to Turkey and brought their new ideas with them which were on exhibit here as well. With the new style, they brought new subjects to paint such as military service, battles, the effects of war on the everyday people with the addition of light and color that were so important to the impressionist painters.
In the 1930’s a group of artists turned to cubism opposing the trends of the previous impressionist painters. Fortunately, at this time, the Father of the Republic of Turkey,
Atatürk, was supportive of this group and it was able to flourish. In the 1940’s social oppression due to the impact of WWII had its influence on the arts as well with social themes becoming important. The 1950’s brought in the abstracts. By 1970 the figure is now seen in paintings and sculptures are created of the living form. Even though as you can see by the numerous sculptures of ancient times, there was a period of time when the human figure was absent in art, but has since returned.
Sorry about the length of this discussion, but found that this art gallery was very good at taking you through the various times with the changes that occurred with Turkish artists. It was definitely an enjoyable way to spend time in Izmir. We did of course make it to the bazaar as that was one of the things to do here that was definitely on our list. Just like other bazaars we have been to, you can get everything from Turkish delights, T-shirts, cotton towels, elaborate gowns and of course as much gold jewelry as you desire! As we did not have anything specific, we were shopping for, we just took time to wander and try to find any aisles that weren’t as crowded in order to get around. As the day goes on, the crowds get larger and as Bob says “he doesn’t do crowds” so we had to try to first figure out a way out of the bazaar as it is definitely quite a maze. We had heard that we should use the numerous mosques that are located in the bazaar area as landmarks, but that only works if you know which mosque is close to the exit you want!
Fortunately, one of the walkways in the bazaar went into an area with numerous art and craft galleries so we took the time to take a look as we are always interested in more artwork for our place back in the US. We happened about a wonderful shop that invited us in and asked us to sit and visit. We of course were offered tea during this time, but more importantly it was great to have a chance to visit with very lovely people. The woman owned the shop and we never did quite figure out where the gentleman we met fit into the picture, but we spent quite a few hours visiting. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. There were numerous pieces of art that we would have loved to have, but we weren’t sure if they were in our budget. We told them we would sleep on it and be back the next day.
Indeed, we did make it back to the gallery (we actually sort of amazed ourselves that we were able to find it within the maze of the bazaar). Neither of the people we had talked to previously were there, but it was clear that a woman in a shop near by was told that we might stop by. We would have loved to buy some of the other pieces of original artwork that she had, but we decided that we couldn’t quite spring for it this time, but we did end up buying two lovely pieces that were Sufi poems. They were both framed and for the first time, we actually bought them with the frames as they were small enough to be able to pack when we go back to the US. The frames are typically not our style, but figured they went well with the pieces which we will enjoy back home. (Actually, as I am writing this so late and we are in the US now, I have taken a photo of them hanging on our walls for you to see).
Even though Izmir was not high on our list of cities to visit, it turned out to be quite a relaxing few days as we didn’t feel that we “had” to see places here like in other cities where we had a list a mile long (at least it seemed) of attractions. We took our time to wander the waterfront, visit with the people at the art gallery, have leisurely meals at a couple great places and just take it easy taking in the sights knowing that we would be heading back to Marmaris at the end of our time here. With our travel back to the US booked for October 26th, we knew we’d have a few things to take care of when we got back to Tsamaya before our return to the US for the winter months. We have enjoyed taking time to visit a few places close enough to Marmaris to get to on some short bus rides (maximum length of any of them was 4 ½ hours) and to take in some more of the beautiful scenery of this country.
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Lynn Waller
non-member comment
So much to see!
the colors and designs on the dresses! Food markets, etc.