İzmir: Moyra … A Longtime Friend

Family commitments have kept Mui and me busy since our arrival in İzmir late on the 25th. We’re slowly settling into a routine and starting to carve out time to spend with friends as well as family.

Moyra and I are friends from junior high … at the American Collegiate Institute in İzmir. She moved to the USA before we did, and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee … when she isn’t traveling.

In recent years, our trips to Türkiye have coincided on the calendar and we’ve met up for lunch at a favorite restaurant in İzmir. Laughter, reminiscing, chit-chat … these are all hallmarks of our get togethers.

This time we met up at the entrance to Kültürpark, crossed the street to the Lozan Patisserie, and enjoyed Turkish tea and goodies … with a side order of the ‘hallmarks’ I mentioned above. We were having such a good time that we didn’t remember to take any photos until there was nothing but crumbs left on the table.

Tummies sated, we decided to check out a temporary art exhibit at the former History and Art Museum in Kültürpark … the large green space in the city center that is home to the annual İzmir International Fair.

Alas, today is the third-day of Eid al-Adha, an Islamic holiday celebrated around the world. The building was locked up tight. The exhibit is scheduled to close tomorrow, but I am hoping that it might be extended. It’s not far from the apartment, so we’ll meander over sometime over the next few days.

Anyway, we found some nice backdrops for this year’s ’new memories’ photos and selfies … and clicked the shutter to also take photos of the two pieces of art in front of the museum.

Then, seeing Moyra off at the tram station, we returned to the apartment. Mui is now busy cooking up a storm … we’re going to cater dinner at mom’s tonight.

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By the way, for those not familiar with Eid-al-Adha, it is commonly referred to as the “Festival of Sacrifice” … Kurban Bayramı in Turkish. It is considered to be one of the two most important holidays in the Islamic calendar… honoring Prophet Abraham's (İbrahim’s) devotion to God and his willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience. As we all know, just as Abraham was about to carry out the command, God intervened and provided a ram to be sacrificed instead.Read more