26 Apr 2015
Izmir, again
I left Greece with the confidence that I had gained deep and meaningful insights into the psyche of its culture, history and people. Unfortunately, I can’t exactly remember any of them right now, so let’s just move on!
Bodrum
That’s also what I did, leaving Kos on a completely unspectacular little boat on a somewhat overcast day. It took that boat almost an hour to reach the Turkish coast and the city of Bodrum. I spent that time on deck, with a beer in my hand and the wind in my hair.
Somehow it had completely slipped my mind that Turkey is not part of the Schengen Agreement, so the passport control at the pier took me by surprise. Then again, German citizens get in without a visa or anything. Beautiful!
On a related note: Next time you go through passport control, pay close attention to the officer at the counter. The instant you hand them your passport, they will be completely puzzled for a second. I can only assume that the following thought process takes place: “Huh, what am I supposed to do with this? …Oh, right. I work for the border patrol, I’m supposed to check those things.” Every. Single. Time. The more often I observe this phenomenon, the funnier it gets.
Cleared to enter the country I had a quick look around the port area and the center of Bodrum. Then I hastily walked towards the coach station. Looking at the crowds of early-bird tourists I felt no urgent need to stay in Bodrum any longer than I had to. So instead, I took a coach to Izmir straight away.
Is it hypocritical that the sight of tourists makes me run for the hills, given that I’m clearly a tourist myself? There, I said it: I’m a tourist. Not going to waste time trying to polish that turd.
The ride from Bodrum to Izmir took about 4 hours on a nice, new coach which was effectively empty. Once we left Bodrum, I was instantly reminded why I had wanted to go back to Turkey: Holy hell, the Turkish Riviera is beautiful! I sat on this airconditioned, wifi-enabled gem of a coach and watched the sun set over a ragged coastline, sloping hills and a mountain highway. For most of that drive I struggled to keep my mouth closed and my nose from leaving prints on the windows. The fields and woods outside were showing incredible hues of green. Every single tree and bush seemed to be blooming. Meadows and hillsides shone in the last rays of sunlight and looked almost unnaturally green. So green!
Izmir
I reached Izmir around 11pm. The last time I had been here I had seen the coach station, a hotel and the airport. Then it was just a layover on the way to Istanbul, but this time I wanted to explore the city, too. From what I saw, it certainly offered many, many shades of beige.
The coach operater (Metro) offers free shuttle buses from the often remote coach stations to the city center. Hooray for shiny coaches! Since I had looked up a hostel beforehand, I got the driver to let me out of the shuttle at Basmane Square:
Me: points and grunts
Driver: grunts questioningly
Me: grunts affirmatively
Driver: opens door
Me: grunts gratefully
Once I had a look around, I actually remembered the square from my last stay. Then I walked north towards the hostel, along the giant Kültürpark and into a part of town which is basically just one giant high street. From there I took a sideroad and ended up at the hostel.
Izmir is Turkey’s 3rd largest city (after Istanbul and Ankara) with a population of around 4 million and about 4000 years of history. Unfortunately a combination of earthquakes, petty wars and the occasional kitchen fire getting out of hand left the city without many historical sights. On the other hand, Izmir is a very modern and open city with a fairly young population. Quality of life there seemed pretty high: The city is smaller and cheaper than Istanbul, while being just as worldly.
For the next four days I would stay in Izmir, take long walks around the city and study at coffee shops. I would also, for once, not look at ancient stuff, since there wasn’t any. I stayed at that first hostel which I had booked online - chosen due to its good reviews.
Using those booking sites has been a mixed experience: Recently I’ve grown more and more frustrated with them. There is a plethora of sites such as booking.com, hostels.com, hostelworld.com and hostelbookers.com. All of them have review mechanisms and rankings for hostels. Yet, for every well-rated hostel that deserved its laurels, I’ve stayed at one which simply did not. Another big drawback is that booking a hostel via one of those sites locks in the price.
Lesson 007: Booking sites obviously charge a commission, which we supposedly pay for convenience and validation through reviews. Yet if the convenience makes my travel plan less flexible, and the reviews are not reliable, what exactly am I paying for? Here is what I recommend instead:
- Look up a few suitable places online.
- Upon arrival, take a look at those hostels and the neighbourhood.
- Walk in through the door, ask about vacancies and have them show you some of their rooms.
- Ask them about the price per night.
- Ask: “Could I pay [75% of that]?”
- Store your bag and go spend the money you just saved on coffee!
In Izmir, my exploits mainly consisted of walking around the city and chugging liters of coffee at coffee shops on the promenade. Neither of those lends itself to terribly impressive pictures, so here are few generic ones instead:
The promenade.
I like that people in Turkey actually take care of the stray cats and dogs. Looking at you, Greece!
This left me giggling for at least five minutes. Mainly because of this clip from the show Community
Thankfully, even at mediocre hostels you meet interesting people. Case in point: I spend a day with a delightful couple from Australia and two students from the US.
After a few days, I got restless in Izmir. Looking at a map I began to hear Istanbul calling, and that call just didn’t feel like it could be denied.
Until next time,
Arne