Today we went on a quest, taking the electric tram, looking for the apartment building that Linda has described in her recollections of living in Izmir in the early 1960’s. Her father’s military posting brought the family there for several years. As far as we could determine, with input from her siblings, the apartment was between the old NATO headquarters building and the French Honorary Consulate on Atatürk Caddesi (Street).

The pink arrow points to the old NATO building on the left and the green arrow points to the French Consulate building on the right. So somewhere in the buildings between the two is where Linda and her siblings spent some formative years! The street fronts the wide park and Promenade, known as the Kordon, along the waterfront that is a popular strolling area on summer evenings. We continued our exploration of Izmir with a visit to Kültürpark, the urban park and green space.

The main boulevard in the park. Around the edge of the park are shaded walkways.

It used to house a zoo that was relocated in 2008, but the space is fenced off and the infrastructure is crumbling. There is also an amusement park that wasn’t active this early in the day, maybe more active in the cool of the evening. The Art and History museum had been located in the park as well, but was moved to a larger venue recently. The museum building did have an exhibit about the Turkish War of Independence after WW1 that ushered in Turkey’s modern age under the guidance of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

A picture of the entrance to Kültürpark in 1957 compared to our picture today.

A picture of the camel caravans in the 1920’s that continued into the 1960’s as per Linda’s recollection.

We walked along the waterfront back to the tram station, passing the original ferry pier that is now a police station.

We headed back to our accommodation, climbing the stairs and steep streets, to enjoy the sunset on the terrace.

We woke with the sun streaming in the train windows. After washing up and dressing we were served cups of coffee in an empty sleeper car by our porter, then we went to the dining car to order a breakfast. We don’t think that’s a common thing on this train, no other passengers were in the car and it took over half an hour to prepare our simple omelets, but they were delicious!

Views of the countryside as we approached Izmir.

We arrived at the station in Izmir and took a taxi to our Airbnb in an older section of town, up on a hill, a small renovated stone/brick eclectic ‘townhouse’.An entry with a kilim rug and colorful chairs around the table, a marble step up on the right into the main bedroom, opposite the bathroom, straight ahead the doorway opens to the small kitchen. A doorway to the right past the bedroom opens to a room with closets and a doorway out to the courtyard, opposite the steps that lead up to the second bedroom with red curtains.

We got settled in and since it was still early afternoon we headed out to explore. We’re on a narrow steep street, so steep some of it is stairs and cars cannot use it! We took the stairs down towards the waterfront and found the commercial street with shops, groceries, and restaurants. One more block and we were on the waterfront where a tram travels along the length of the city!

Our narrow street with pink and peach colored buildings. There are many old stone buildings, some falling down, and many steep stairway streets!

We used our credit cards to pay the .40 cents for a ride on the tram one stop away to Konak Square and iconic sites of Izmir!

Sculpture on the promenade, Konak Pier (now a shopping mall) and a street in the spawling Kemeralti Market.

The famous Izmir Clock Tower in Konak Square!

We did some shopping in Kemeralti Market, then took the tram back to our area where we found some beers and groceries which we hauled back up the stairs and steep streets to our lodging.

We enjoyed appetizers on the rooftop terrace, accessed through the courtyard, after which we walked back down the hill and enjoyed a light dinner at one of the street side restaurants.

We finished our day with a hike back up the hill and wine on the terrace, watching the sun set and the lights of town begin to twinkle in the dusk.

Our last morning in Goreme, Cappadocia and the conditions are right for hot air balloons, and they took advantage! We were up before dawn and climbed the stairs to the rooftop terrace to watch the balloons float over us!

They came so close we could hear the swoosh of the burners lighting up!

We didn’t have time to stay for breakfast, we had to get to the airport an hour away to catch our flight to Istanbul, so we packed up the car and headed out of town. Driving down the wide, rose bordered  boulevard out of town we came upon the landing area for the balloons.

It is amazing, they can land the big basket right onto a trailer for easy transport!

We got to the airport, parked our rental car in the appropriate spot and headed for our flight. A short hour and twenty minutes later we landed in Istanbul, or rather the outskirts of the city.

The airport is fairly new, modern and decorated with great tile work!

We located the metro train that would take us to the center of the city. A lovely young French couple stopped us and explained that they were leaving Istanbul (on bicycles, riding all the way back to France!) and no longer needed the metro card for the trains and offered it to us! Maybe they saw us with our backpacks and karma ensued! We rode the metro trains to Sirkeci Station, walking distance to the famous Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sofia Mosque and the Blue Mosque.

The train was mostly subway into the city and the ramps back up to street level were decorated with more beautiful tile work. This wall displays the epicenter of the Ottoman empire of the 1400-1800’s.

We found luggage lockers at the station and stowed our backpacks and began our stroll among the throngs of mostly locals enjoying the balmy weather and the breeze off the Bosporus. We were heading to the greenspace around Topkapi Palace when a local began walking with us and steered us to his carpet shop. We were then handed off to his cousin and led down into the showroom, brought tiny cups of thick strong Turkish coffee and given the sales pitch! It was a disappointment to them I’m sure, when we explained that we live in a caravan and a Turkish rug, as beautiful as they are, would be way too opulent for us! Needless to say, they did not waste time in saying goodbye, but very politely! We found our way to the gated entrance to Gülhâne Park, grateful for the shade under the many huge trees! This is the first of the 4 successive courtyards of the walled Topkapi Palace, the residence of the Ottoman Sultans, each one more restricted to entry back in the day until the innermost Sultan’s residence and Harem. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire and WW1 the complex became a museum.

Views in the park. We got some glimpses of the next courtyard but we did not have time to visit the Palace/Museum unfortunately. I think it would take more than a day to visit!

We had lunch at an outdoor cafe in the park in a brisk breeze off the Bosporus Strait. The Strait divides Istanbul into two sections, divides Turkey into two parts and is a division between Europe on the west and Asia on the east! We are on the Europe side, on a small peninsula that was the heart of Ancient Constantinople/Istanbul!

The pink arrow points to the small peninsula between the Golden Horn (the tributaries on the Europe side that flow into the Bosporus) and the Bosporus Strait.

Looking across the Golden Horn to the nearer European section of Istanbul.

Looking further across the Bosporus towards Asia and the larger section of Istanbul. In the upper picture the bright white Mosque on the upper left with 6 minarets is a newer of the over 3,000 mosques in Istanbul! In the lower picture the green trees are part of the park around Topkapi Palace, still on the Europe side of the Strait!

We headed over the bridge across the Golden Horn, watching fishermen casting lines off the bridge, amazingly missing the many ferries zooming under the bridge, and avoiding the hordes of people crossing and the cars and motorbikes zipping by.

A closer view of one of the many mosques, through a fence at the end of the bridge.

Of the over 3,000 Mosques in Istanbul, 4 of the most famous are in this district, this is the 4th most famous; Yemi Camii or New Mosque, built in 1597! Check this site 12 Most Famous Mosques in Istanbul for pictures and information about these beautiful buildings.

The sun was hot, the wind was blowing and we still had a train to catch so we returned to retrieve our luggage and take the metro trains to the Söğütlüçeşme station, a nondescript station apparently undergoing constant renovation. We boarded our high speed train to Eskesehir station where we caught our midnight train to Izmir. We had a sleeper car and we gratefully climbed into our bunks and slept through the night!