İzmir

Here I am with the summary footprint I promised for our two weeks in Turkey.

Honestly, I didn’t do much of anything. From the get go, this trip was intended simply as “family time” … to add on to the brief visit we made to Turkey in the spring. Our goal was to enjoy time with our families and leave the exploring to another time.

With my family all living in İzmir, it was easy for me to spend time with them. Mui had to go further afield for his family time … to Eskişehir … a province in Central Turkey. The dates for his trip were specifically selected so that he could join school buddies for a dinner reunion that he found out had been planned in Ankara … a short train ride from Eskişehir. The bonus of that little segue … his nephew, who lives in Samsun, a province in the Black Sea Region, drove down for a day while Mui was in Ankara. Thus, with a quick 4-day jaunt, Mui managed to kill several birds with one stone … so to speak.

As is always the case when we’re in Turkey, there was a lot of food involved in our family get togethers. Breakfast … brunch … lunch … afternoon tea … dinner. Sometimes at home. Sometimes at a favorite eatery. Sometimes in the city. Sometimes in nearby districts. We even managed to squeeze in a dinner that has become a tradition with Mui’s cousin and her husband.

I know, I know. This summary does not do justice to the delightful time we spent with family and friends during this whirlwind trip. But … at least I got a snippet posted. Hopefully, the included photos will make up for the dearth of words and you can see from our smiles what a great time we had.Read more