EuroCrossing & Türkiye 2022

The second day of Şeker Bayramı (Eid al-Fitr) found us out and about around İzmir with Aylin & Murat.

First, we went to the Archaeology Museum in Bahribaba Park in Konak. The museum, which was founded in 1924, was moved to this location in 1984 to accommodate its large collection of antiquities unearthed during digs around the province.

The collection consists of sculptures, busts, sarcophagi, and other marble and stone artifacts; ceramics from the Prehistoric Ages to the Byzantine Period; coins from Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods; gold, silver; precious stone ornaments; and glassware from the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods; and more.

The bronze statue of a Running Athlete and the fragment of a bronze Demeter statue, excavated from wrecks in the Aegean Sea, are among the most intriguing works in the museum ... and fairly unique finds since it was quite common to melt such bronze artifacts to reuse the metal.

By the time we left the museum, we were all starving. So, Murat led us to the Özev Döner Salonu, a restaurant on a backstreet of the Kemeraltı Shopping District.

Döner is similar to the Greek gyro that most people are more familiar with, but it is much better IMHO as the meat is shaved in thinner slices. We ordered the İskender version that is served on cubed pide (a Turkish flatbread) and a side of yogurt. The meat is topped with a tomato sauce and generously slathered with melted butter that is poured hot tableside. Delicious.

After lunch, we parted ways with Aylin and Murat. They went to take care of errands; we went to do a bit of shopping. Along the way, we "just had to" stop and get a slice of şambali, a sweet treat that is a specialty of this province. It's essentially a semolina cake that is drenched in syrup ... often served with kaymak (clotted cream), which cuts down on the sweetness that can otherwise be quite cloying. Delicious.

On our way home, we noticed that the gate to the Saint Polycarp Church was open. Dedicated to the revered bishop of Smyrna, St. Polycarp, who was martyred c.155 CE, it is the oldest church in Izmir. In all my years of growing up in Izmir, I'd never been inside, so when Mui suggested we take a peek, I was all for it.

The church was built in 1625 with the permission of the Ottoman Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, and at the request of the French King Louis XIII. The building was damaged in the 1688 Smyrna earthquake. It was subsequently repaired, damaged again, and restored a few times. The church that stands today is the one that was rebuilt in 1929 following the Great Fire of Smyrna.

[Smyrna, by the way, is the name by which İzmir was known in antiquity.]

We’ve got just a few more days left in İzmir and will try to squeeze in some more sightseeing outings … fingers crossed.Baca lagi