Antiphellos Theatre was first on our list of little explorations for the day… Over past years, because of going backwards and forwards to the Greek island of Meis (Kastellorizo) to renew our visas, poor old Kaş had become no more of a stop off point for us. It was a few years since we’d spent …
Mountains, Mediterranean, twists and turns, small villages and towns, Roman and Lycian archaeological sites galore. And fabulous bays like Kaputaş Beach. Regular readers will know we have a bit of an obsession with the D400 road that runs along the length of the southern coast of Turkey. Anyone who has driven along it will know …
Izmir is a great city to walk around. Try this circular walk, with two
short ferry sails, starting at Alsancak via Karşıyaka, Bostanlı,
Konak…and back to Alsancak
Sat at the foot of Kadifekale, sandwiched between the hillside and the streets of Kemeraltı is the ancient Izmir agora. When we wrote about the Lycian and Roman ruins of Xanthos, we said that around many of Turkey’s archaeological sites, modern daily life continues. Nowhere is this more evident than at Izmir agora. Izmir’s Ancient Agora …
This time last week, we were telling you about how we got ourselves happily lost in the warren of streets that is Izmir’s Kemeraltı. Many of the streets are covered with mesh and vines to keep them shaded, so it’s even more difficult to get your bearings because, at times, you can’t see any of …
We just love Kemeraltı Market in the Konak area of Izmir! We’ve made this comparison before, but for us, when it comes to size and personality, Izmir is to Istanbul what Manchester is to London in the UK. Izmir is completely different to Istanbul. But it’s impossible not to make such a comparison. Both cities …
In the Izmir seaside neighbourhood of Alsancak, there’s a famous, pedestrianised shopping street called Kıbrıs Şehitleri Caddesi. Filled with high street stores, restaurants and patisseries it’s Izmir’s answer to Istanbul’s Istiklal Caddesi, though it’s much less crowded and the high-rise buildings are much less historic. So if shopping isn’t your thing (we’re most definitely not …
Each city has its own personality, with qualities that either attract or repel the visitor, and if you’ve read our previous posts on Izmir, you’ll know we were very much attracted to the Aegean city. It’s a confident city without being cocky or in your face. It’s surrounded by mass tourism but remains unaffected by …
We’d been in Izmir for four days and still hadn’t made it to one of the sights on our list of Izmir Must-Sees – Kadifekale (the Velvet Castle). Racing around, bagging sights is never really top of our agenda when we go somewhere new – but Kadifekale sits on top of a hill (of the …
We know that Turkey is famous for its street food and Izmir is a great city to be in if you’re looking to sample lots of street food treats. When we first visited, we were in the city for six short days and were on a mission to eat, eat, eat. Purely because so many …