Today is Cumhuriyet Bayramı (Republic Day) in Turkey, so this post seems quite apt for the occasion. Republic Day commemorates the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became the first leader. For today’s post we’re heading back to Izmir and to Alsancak train station. And how does this relate to …
We plumped for Paşa Bufe and sat at an empty table… Quite what the boatyard workers thought about a couple of foreigners plonking down amongst them is anyone’s guess. Especially when one of them is of the female variety. We don’t linger over things like that. Mooching about around Fethiye boatyard is a regular pastime …
When we were staying in our apartment in Alsancak in Izmir, you can imagine how pleased (excited) we were when we woke up on the Sunday morning, opened the patio doors and we could hear the clanking of delivery trucks and traders shouting their prices. Regular readers of this blog will know we have a …
“Don’t come back from Izmir without trying Çeşme Kumrusu!” This was just one of the many pieces of advice given to us by Turkish friends before we set off for our trip to Izmir in September. But it was also the piece of advice; the common thread that linked all the other suggestions offered. Woe …
Hünkar Beğendi is an absolute classic of Ottoman cuisine. There are those moments in life where you peruse the menu in a restaurant, plump for a dish, stick your fork into the food. And then you get that life-changing taste sensation. And that’s not so much of an exaggeration; life-changing in the sense that you …
It’s the perfect time of year, here in Fethiye. Pleasantly sunny, but not baking hot, and the nights are getting cooler, aiding a more comfortable night’s sleep. It’s trekking weather – and it’s cooking weather. We know autumn has well and truly kicked in for a lot of you who are reading elsewhere in Turkey …
We’ve hit the kitchen to showcase three different Turkish recipes and all three of them have been chosen from the cookery book, The Sultan’s Kitchen – A Turkish Cookbook. You’ll have to wait one more day to see which recipe we chose to follow for our starter because, as promised, today is all about the …
We decided to walk to Asansör – well, we’d walked everywhere else in Izmir so we figured we might as well continue the trend. It looked easy enough. Hit the kordon (promenade) in Alsancak and keep going until we could see Asansör. We strolled along the seafront, passed Izmir Saat Kulesi and, an hour after …
In Izmir, there is one historic attraction that most people know about. Izmir Saat Kulesi (Izmir Clock Tower) is the symbol of the city and arguably its most famous sight. We almost felt duty-bound to go and see it to take photos of it. We felt we couldn’t ignore it, and so, we went off …
The Fethiye to Izmir bus is a less daunting journey for those who don’t fancy a night’s sleep on a bus seat! Regular readers will know that we have a bit of a fondness for the Turkish intercity buses; they’re our favourite mode of transport for getting away from Fethiye for a short while to …