On the way to Çanakkale, we had passed the previously unknown place Menemen several times before already, which seemed neither to be particularly inviting as a modern town along the main road nor showing any special features.

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.

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.

Located in the Namazgah district of İzmir, the Agora is built in Roman times (2nd century AD) and was built three floors high near the center of the city called Smyrna according to the Roman city plan of Hippodamos.

Whoever has been driving through Izmir in certain years has certainly noticed the worsening traffic conditions in the growing Aegean metropolis. Since the beginning of the 1980s individual traffic on İzmir's roads has increased steadily.

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.

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.

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.

İzmir Adnan Menderes International Airport (IATA: ADB, ICAO: LTBJ) is an airport serving İzmir and is named after the Turkish politician and former prime minister Adnan Menderes. İzmir's main airport is 18 km (11 miles) southof the city on the way to Selçuk, Ephesus and Pamukkale.

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. 

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.

The town of Limantepe, on Turkey's western coast is the site a prehistoric (Bronze Age) settlement that includes an ancient port dating from 2500 years located underwater offshore. The area is situated in the urban zone of the coastal town of Urla near İzmir.

The former metropolis Ephesus was located in a valley between two mountain ridges, whose slopes today are still without firming forests because of the once densely constructions, so the ridges are still in motion.

It was a quick decision during our stay in Izmir to take a day off for visiting to the new opened İzmir Wildlife Park.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.