It was pure curiosity that made us follow the sign pointing to the ancient city of Tripoli. Coming from Izmir, we were still about 21 kilometers from Denizli when this street sign made us curious and, as so often, the decision was made quickly.
Coming from Akşehir Lake on the D300 towards Afyonkarahisar, we also make a short stop at Eber Lake, which was once, due to the huge amounts of meltwater from the mountain range of Emir Dağları in the north and the mountain range of Sultan Dağları in the south, connected with the Akşehir Lake.
To supply the metropolis of Ephesus with fresh water, the Romans built another aqueduct system in the mountains between 7 and 15 AD, which also contained an aqueduct over the Dervenddere River that is still well preserved today.
Rarely there are such different views and opinions as when asked about “life in the big city”. For some it is simply unimaginable for others it is the dream of life par excellence.
About 16 kilometers west of the city of Selçuk one encounters another oracle place of the god Apollon, the place Klaros (Latin Clarus), which in antiquity belonged to the city of Kolophon, about 13 kilometers away. The ancient, but little-known, city of Notion was also in the immediate vicinity.
Every year there is a well known event near Selcuk / Izmir when the camel fighting championships take place. There is a two-day carnival in the town during which many male camels fight for trophies, money and the honour of being the best in the competition.
A very big town with the welcoming atmosphere of a village. We stayed out of town in a suburb called Buca in the apartment of our Turkish friend's mother. Everybody was very friendly and we experienced the genuine Turkish way of life, with mealtimes especially being a real family occasion.
The Clock Tower (Saat Kulesi), today İzmir’s landmark number one, was built by a Levantine French Architect Raymond Charles Pere in 1901 to commemorate 25th anniversary of Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II's accession to the throne.
Gaziemir is a district of İzmir Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. It is one of the metropolitan districts of Greater İzmir and is situated to the south of central İzmir (Konak) on the road to the İzmir harbour, İzmir Adnan Menderes International Airport and the export processing industrial park of Aegean Free Zone; which is also home to the fourth space camp in the world, Space Camp Turkey.
Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey, is described as the pearl of the Aegean. It is a major port and commercial centre set dramatically around a huge bay and backed by mountains to the south.
As a port town, İzmir has always been strategically important for trade between Anatolia and other Aegean cities. Not surprisingly, the region of Kemeralti on Izmir's shore is a bustling business centre.
Turkey is one of the richest countries in wetlands among the countries in Europe and the Middle East. These wetlands have great importance especially for wildlife as well as local economy.
It was a quick decision during our stay in Izmir to take a day off for visiting to the new opened İzmir Wildlife Park.
Adnan Menderes Airport (Turkish Adnan Menderes Havalimanı) is the airport at İzmir. It is located about 18 kilometres to the South of the third largest Turkish city, Izmir.
Early Sunday morning we started our trip back home to Antalya because we had got an invitation from the Director of Camlaralti Private College to come to Özdere, a small less important village on the way from Kusadasi to Seferihisar, for having breakfast together.
The most recent reports from Turkey about the Roman spa complex of Allianoi, sent by the local Allianoi Initiative led by the archaeologist professor Ahmet Yaras, says that now only the tops of excavated walls and columns poke through sand that workers employed by the Turkish State Waterworks are laying.
Sirince is a small Aegean village visited by many people because it preserves its historical architecture. It became famous as being the location where the story of the novel called “Farewell Anatolia” takes place. The novel was written by Greek author Dido Satiriou.
In ancient times Pergamon was a famous city centre because of it’s well known and huge library. Today you can just visit the ruins of Pergamon (the name today is Bergama), most visible place in the town is the former Acropolis (mountain with castle), the former city centre and the Asklepieion. These sights belong to the ancient Pergamon.
We met Didem Irmak, Hasip Özhan and Gizem Ayhan during our preparations for the XC Paragliding Competition in Mut. They needed to travel a long distance from Izmir to arrive in Mut just for the weekend.
Last spring, before we began our travel, we stopped over at the Guzelbahce camping site in Izmir and met Duygu. When we dropped by the same camping site again, we looked around for her and she was there! How nice : ) Now, Duygu is our neighbor in the camping site.