Izmir, Turkey

Izmir (4000 years in the making!)

We spent our last few days in Turkey up the Western Coast in Turkeys third largest city; Izmir. 

This was soo good! 

The city that feels absolutely huge (with a population of 4m+) however, has a small inner city area where we spent our time hanging out and mentally preparing ourselves for the next few weeks ahead. Getting to our hostel was the hardest part of the trip. We had our tourist scam rader up on full alert after be-friending a local who followed us into a cafe and then proceeded to offer us a lift in his 'taxi'. Hahaha... we love a try'er! 

Truthfully, we didn't do much exploring in Izmir although there are a number of places worth visiting (such as the Kadifekale Castle or Izmir's clock tower) we decided to just relax together by the waterfront, smelling the salty waves, drinking coffee and eating Turkish food and then of course eating a little more before waddling back to our hostel.

Locals just relaxing at the waterfront

The weather was a tad cooler than down on the South coast but it didn't bother us much. 

Pretty much bird flu waiting to strike! 

We stayed at a small communal hostel not far from the water front which was packed with travellers like us.
Most of the day we meandered about the waterfront but on our last Sunday morning we joined some others from our hostel and explored (supposedly Turkey's oldest and largest) flea market. It was actually pretty boring and full of absolute junk, and the odd fruit and vege stand until we found the live animal section and there it was actually rather fascinating.  We wouldn't really recommend it at all. 

We have included a few shots below that we took in Izmir but this was certainly a few days of 'down time' for us :) Next up.... Madrid! 

Tot siens,

John and Kara 

Walking up and down the Izmir water front

Amazing baked potatoes. 

The making of Johns candy treat! 

Grapes for sale at the market