Maspion Groups: izmir, turkey

chios island is very close to çeşme, a little port on the west coast of turkey. 40 euro will buy you a round trip ferry and bus ride to izmir, complete with tour guide.

we hopped over for the day and wandered around konak square and the central market.

another day of business

my impressions were mixed... the negative is mostly my fault, as i had preconceptions that were mostly off. izmir is a large city with kind people that are struggling to survive and prosper as we all are. i should have left my romantic ideas behind and taken it for what it is.

water for everyone

for me, the biggest impression is in things that unite me with this place -- how similar we all are, especially in relation to my experience in athens. i don't know where to start... the market had almost exactly the same atmosphere as monastiraki, except that it was much larger. the luxury shops were more expensive than in athens. a great many words were recognizable: sokak meaning narrow lane, and the string of eats -- kymali - peynirli - patatesli - mantarli - ispanakli are words any greek would understand... with meat, with cheese, with potatoes, with mushrooms, with spinach. the people were kind and helpful and i felt very much at ease.

sokak

kymali - peynirli - patatesli - mantarli - ispanakli

women's clothing was often as to be expected in a predominantly muslim area -- but i saw very few full burqas and quite a lot of classic western clothing.

allah

the waterfront was very large with people strolling, fishing and enjoying the day, but the residential buildings behind were, for me, overly dense.

the end of our visit found us at a cafe with lovely tea and ice cream!