Indulging life @ Turkey

One week was spent in Izmir, Turkey's third-biggest city located at the sea. Despite the occasional wet and rainy weather, the city was taken in and the surroundings explored both on foot and bike and boat. Many occasions called for a tea, coffee or delicious food somewhere whether it was up on a hill, in a quirky old-style fishing harbor or in a busy street at Alsancak.

crossing the gulf by boat

abundant cargo and passenger boats in the gulf

clocktower in Konak, Izmir

mosque and clock tower in Konak, Izmir at dusk

Gevrekci

olive trees during an afternoon hike out of town

flamingos seen during the cycle trip

coffee time at old fishing harbor during the cycling trip

some fresh Mussels cooked with rice as an afternoon snack

time for Turkish coffee

Furthermore, two day trips out of town involved some serious sightseeing.

One day, we drove down to Ephesus to look at the ruins of the ancient city and library. On the way, we stopped at cute seaside town Seferihisar with a lovely market where we stocked up on different tasty home-made food and treats. Later we found ourselves some dinner in the picturesque town called Şirince displaying a well preserved 19th century architecture.

 me at Ephesus

cat at Ephesus

Ephesus with the preserved library facade

stopping at Şirince for dinner

The second out-of-town trip took us to Pamukkale, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site for the both the ancient Roman city and the calcareous sinter basins. What an absolutely stunning site to spend hours walking around and enjoying the view while the feet are soaking in the water of the natural hot spring!

ancient Roman town on top of Pamukkale cliff

Sinter overgrowing existing topography

soaking the legs in the natural hot spring water whilst taking in the breathtaking surroundings

Pamukkale sinter basins 

happy geologist in front of massive calcareous sinter deposits

 Overall, it was a very relaxing week spent in Turkey. There were some social events, too. Having beer in town or dinner (with raki) at a meyhane in Alsancak. Great times! My Turkish proved to be not entirely useful as I e.g. went to the hairdresser and got a head of curls instead of the wanted haircut… Let's say there is some room for improvement… Which of course means that I have to go back to practice.