Turkey Tour
Day 1 - We flew into the Izmir airport, close to the Agean Sea. After a bumpy flight, we went through passport control and headed immediately to lunch. Thankful to be on the ground, we tried a lot of different Turkish foods at Koniali Resturant - Turkish salad, rice, Turkish pizzas, and traditional kabobs. We also had two Turkish desserts - I'm unsure of the name, but it was a cooked cheese with nuts and something else on top, sitting in a sweet syrup. The taste and texture reminded me of sweetened shredded wheat. It was yummy. The other desert was a light chocolate cake with light icing between the layers - a celebratory birthday cake for Fotini, our travel partner on this trip! So much food!
Izmir, ancient Smyrna, is a city of 4 million people, and the buildings and houses are right next to each other, sharing walls, as do many buildings in big cities. During 4th century BC, Alexander the Great came here and ruled. Afterwards Rome rose to power, and a large number of Jewish people and Christians suffered here. Much later, more than half of the city became Greek Christians. Then in WW1, 70% of the city was burned. People perished, people moved to Athens, and others rebuilt.
Today the town is mainly involved in the leather industry making shoes and other goods. The cost of living in Izmir is much cheaper than Istanbul. Izmir is a university town. On our drive through town I noticed very narrow side streets, many pedestrians, and numerous shops. Izmir is a city where churches, temples, and mosques happily share space literally and figuratively; people here continue to pray for peace, unlike the way their neighbors to the east live. Every two years, Izmir hosts an international fair for businesses to show their products. The outside of the grounds show palm trees beside the waterfront. It's a forward-thinking city at present. Turkey is the bridging country between Europe and the Middle East - in thought and in geography. But our guide said today that the political climate is changing. The primary crops here are olives, sesame seeds, cotton, bananas, citrus fruits, sunflowers, sugar, beets, barleys, wheat, pistachios, livestock. We are in an interesting country - one that is sure to expand our thoughts as we experience it together.
Day 1 - We flew into the Izmir airport, close to the Agean Sea. After a bumpy flight, we went through passport control and headed immediately to lunch. Thankful to be on the ground, we tried a lot of different Turkish foods at Koniali Resturant - Turkish salad, rice, Turkish pizzas, and traditional kabobs. We also had two Turkish desserts - I'm unsure of the name, but it was a cooked cheese with nuts and something else on top, sitting in a sweet syrup. The taste and texture reminded me of sweetened shredded wheat. It was yummy. The other desert was a light chocolate cake with light icing between the layers - a celebratory birthday cake for Fotini, our travel partner on this trip! So much food!
Izmir, ancient Smyrna, is a city of 4 million people, and the buildings and houses are right next to each other, sharing walls, as do many buildings in big cities. During 4th century BC, Alexander the Great came here and ruled. Afterwards Rome rose to power, and a large number of Jewish people and Christians suffered here. Much later, more than half of the city became Greek Christians. Then in WW1, 70% of the city was burned. People perished, people moved to Athens, and others rebuilt.
Today the town is mainly involved in the leather industry making shoes and other goods. The cost of living in Izmir is much cheaper than Istanbul. Izmir is a university town. On our drive through town I noticed very narrow side streets, many pedestrians, and numerous shops. Izmir is a city where churches, temples, and mosques happily share space literally and figuratively; people here continue to pray for peace, unlike the way their neighbors to the east live. Every two years, Izmir hosts an international fair for businesses to show their products. The outside of the grounds show palm trees beside the waterfront. It's a forward-thinking city at present. Turkey is the bridging country between Europe and the Middle East - in thought and in geography. But our guide said today that the political climate is changing. The primary crops here are olives, sesame seeds, cotton, bananas, citrus fruits, sunflowers, sugar, beets, barleys, wheat, pistachios, livestock. We are in an interesting country - one that is sure to expand our thoughts as we experience it together.
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