From Selcuk to Izmir takes only 1.30 hours but we had delay. We got cheap traintickets of only 10 lira for both of us since we told a little lie of being younger than 25 years old. After we arrived we walked to a hotel we had looked up before departure. Because we had lots of expenses today (entrance Epheses and traintickets), we were over our budget for the day. We had to eat cheap, so went to the McDonalds for some simple food. I always want to try the McDonald’s burgers in different countries, so decided to go for the McKöfte which was typical Turkish of course. It was okay, not phenomenal though (The all-time winner is still the mcGreek for me).
We slowly walked back alongside the boulevard to our hotel. There was so much life on the streets of Izmir. People were just hanging out together and enjoy each other’s company. There was music, big crowds of people, laughter and joy. I liked it.
We decided to stay in Izmir three nights since we liked the ambiance and just to rest some days extra before we have the long busride again towards Bursa.
Before exploring Izmir, we informed at busticket encounters about buses to Bursa. All these encounters are at the same spot, right next to each other and luckily with prize differences of 10 lira per ticket. So always make sure you inform at all of them to find the cheapest ones. We knew now where we had to be for our tickets when we would leave Izmir. After that we just wandered around in Izmir and found ourself in the Kemeralti district. This is the historical bazaar district of Izmir (which was comparable with the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul) with vegetable and fruit markets, typical Turkish teahouses with Turkish men sitting and enjoying their cup of tea, playing a game or just for chitchat. We always had freshly made Lahmacuns with ayran as lunch. The funny thing is that in the Netherlands you need to eat it with lots of salad and sauce in order to make it tasty, but here the plain lahmacun was just amazingly good. You don’t need anything else with it. Damn those Dutch lahmacuns which ruin the authentic taste of the real ones. We walked to the boulevard and lay on the grass to enjoy the warm summer breeze.
Recommendation? Yes, but only for one or two days. It’s quite comparable with other big cities like Istanbul and Ankara, only less touristic and the people are more laid back. There is this relaxed atmosphere you won’t find in the other big cities which makes Izmir a unique city.
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