izmir

the bus arrived in the early morning, so i still had lots of time to kill until i could check in at a hostel. i had heard many good things about izmir, but my first impression pretty much consisted of garbage, potholes and poverty.

nonetheless, i was able to scope out a potentially good spot to watch the sun rise above the city and got on my way. busses here are even cheaper than in istanbul, you pay just 6 lira (about 20 cents) for a ride. i walked up a hill through a very dodgy neighbourhood, until i arrived at a castle-like structure at the top, where i froze my ass off for about an hour waiting for the sun to come up.

i was at the hostel by 9, luckily able to check in right away. took a big nap, went grocery shopping. 700g of schnitzel for 2€, i think i'll stay.

the first day, i went out to explore the city. everything looks very southern again, with palm trees and everywhere and everything looking a bit beige. one of my gloves flew away in the strong winds the day before, so i decided to take a trip to the outskirts of town and get new ones at the decathlon.

izmir is a bay city, so taking ferries is often the easiest (and nicest) way to get around. arrived at the probably most luxurious shopping center i've ever been to. i don't know if i already mentioned this in earlier entries, but everytime you enter a public place, like bus terminal, mall, or museum, all your belongings get x-rayed first. looked around the store and ended up buying a trekking pole as well.

the next day, i went out with a elias, another 19yo german i had met at the hostel and talked to for hours about anything end everything. we spent one or two hours at the bazaar trying not to get pickpocketed or scammed, then went to an archeological museum. also paid a couple cents to shoot a pellet gun at some baloons in the water.

elias had to go to istanbul the next day, but he planned to go to pakistan and even afghanistan, so we decided to keep in touch so that maybe we could meet up in the future to go there together. that day, i tried to go to the izmir zoo, but the shuttle that was supposed to take me there never came, so i went to a chill spot at the shore and ended the day early.

on sunday, i wanted to get out of the city a bit so i took the cable car up a mountain and went for a little hike. turns out that from the looks of it, the turkish aren't big hikers, i only saw 2 people in the hours i was up there. had a stunning view across the city to one side and untouched forest hills to the other. after climbing a transmission tower, i went off the beaten tracks and onto a small trail down to a nearby lake.

the trail abruptly ended in what appeared to be a landslide, so i climbed up to a small road that was conveniently right beside. that road also ended soon, though, but this time, a house with a big fence just was blocking the entire path. i had to scramble up two hundred metres of rock face and scree (very happy about the trekking pole investment), but finally made it back to the proper road and decended safely back to the city.

on monday, i had planned to hitchhike down the coast towards antalya, but a rain front came in, so i decided to just take a bus to fethiye instead. i feel like this time i really nailed the perfect amount of days to spend in one city, maybe it's because i have the deadline of having to be in antalya by the time my parents arrive.Läs mer