#145 Izmir - Turkey + Some Musings
A rambling post this week 😊
Izmir - The red heart is the Kültür district where I stayed. The older part of Izmir.
My trip to Izmir was very educational. I think, all things considered, if I do spend time in Turkey, this is where I would probably stay. I found the loveliest little café and restaurant area. It is referred to as the Kültür Mahallesi (The Culture District). Exactly what I was hoping to find in Buenos Aires, but didn’t. Funny thing though, in that area, right where I want to stay? No AirBnB listings at all. Surrounding it, there are quite a few, but in that specific area – nothing.
From a Café in the Kültür district
Me sticking to healthy food :-)
A view of a stormy bay from the top of a historical elevator
It is definitely less crowded, and more liberal. Very few headscarves in evidence here. And I like that. It a city spread around a huge bay and there is a nice ferry service between the 2 sides. It has a nice international airport and the flight service to Istanbul with THY is nice and only about 50 minutes.
The ferry pulling away from the old side of Izmir - Heading to the Karşıkaya side that you can see in the distance
A portion of the esplanade in Izmir
I did explore the other side a little, but I really prefer the Kültür district on the older side. It seems to meet all of my needs.
I did have a guide take me around a bit to some of the holiday villages out on the peninsula, but very much not my thing. Quite hot and humid here. Almost Thailand level. This is a two change of clothes a day place when one is out walking about. But I found a very nice, reasonably priced laundry service that will even pick up and deliver from the hotel. Couldn’t get that in Istanbul (ok … I didn’t look that hard once I found a place next door).
Above are images from the holiday village of Çeşme - Historical fort, views of the marina and some of the alleyways. Also an elevator built in Izmir in 1907 originally.
Iskender Kebap + Meze (the small plates at the top) - Along with a glass of Rakı - Delicious - I couldn’t finish this at all. Just too much. $12
Personal Musings
It is hitting home with me that it is difficult to meet people without introductions. I’m trying a group called Internations to see if I can make some contacts. I find it difficult to reach out. Introvert that I am, if I reach out to people, they might answer, then I have to answer back and otherwise engage. You can see how that can be a vicious cycle. 😊 …
Between COVID and now being on the road, my isolation has grown into a habit. It was hugely accelerated by Mark’s passing and is an increasingly hard habit to break.
A good friend of mine told Mark once that I’m a very mission-oriented person. If I have a mission, then I’m pretty happy.
And I am seriously seeing that facet of my personality these days. When I was just in Istanbul, once I had settled in, taken care of the root canal, etc., without any particular ‘mission’, I was starting to feel anxious. As soon as I realized my visa situation and had to make a definite plan with things I was going to do … Go to Izmir, go to Sofia, get back to the states, etc. … I was noticed I was kind of in my happy place again.
As a side note, I don’t consider my fitness and study regimen as a mission – that is more of an ongoing process. But I have also realized that I would do better at my studying if I could tie it to a ‘mission’. Studying, languages especially, with no actual requirement, is tough for me. I’ll need to give that some thought. I’m thinking about at least setting mini-targets for each area of study.
In doing a little research on Bulgaria I ran across this blog article. Pretty funny:
https://followthesisters.com/real-complains-by-real-travelers-hilarious
As my minimalism becomes more and more a part of me, I realize that it makes staying occupied more challenging. I don’t ‘shop’ per se. Especially away from Amazon 😊. And I don’t eat much. Especially on my own. I feel guilty (vaguely) for occupying table space at the restaurants and cafés and not spending much money. I’m not interested in tourist stuff like castles and history and the ‘sights’. It might be different if I had someone to spend time with. I’m meeting my friend Jakob from Denmark in Sofia in a few days. That will be nice.
I read an enormous amount these days … usually not literary or non-fiction or ‘educational’ material. I find it too easy to escape into fantasy / science fiction / mystery books unfortunately. At least I’m not watching too much TV any more. I was binging on some stuff on Amazon Prime but that is getting to be less and less frequent. Although my binging takes much less time than it does for most people. I fast forward through any parts I think might be stressful for me in any way. 😊 A 45-minute show usually only takes me about 20 minutes.
Well – Back to my Bulgarian studies. Want to be able to at least say ‘Please’, ‘Thank you’, ‘Hello’, ‘Yes’, ‘No’, ‘Good morning’, ‘How are you?’, I’m sorry’, and ‘I don’t understand’. That will get me through most things.