First evening in Izmir, Turkey

Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey is located near the Agean Sea. We arrived at our hotel, Park Inn by Radisson, early evening. The hotel was right across from the waterfront that had a nice promenade where people were walking/biking. After a buffet dinner, a few of us took a walk along the waterfront which had the promenade on one side and a row of restaurants on the other. The next day, April 23, was Turkey's National Sovereignty and Children's Day, so buildings and the public squares were decorated with red and white flags and giant photos of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic.

After a while, my friends turned around to return to the hotel, but I decided to go further to see if I can find the shopping area that the hotel staff told me was at the end of the promenade. I was looking for T-shirts, shorts and sandals, as the weather was getting warmer and I did not bring enough light clothing. Along the way, I saw a street vendor selling steam mussels! I love mussels but was not hungry enough to stand there and eat, like a customer was doing, although a few were eating mussels in a cafe behind the vendor.

I finally reached the area where there were a lot of stores as well as restaurants, most of the stores were closed. But the restaurants were busy, it seemed like lots of people were out and about, Izmir appeared to be a resort town and tomorrow was a holiday. But I did come across Tugba, a store selling Turkish delights and other snacks, as well as Turkish teas and coffee. The prices were very reasonable, much cheaper than at the Spice Market. I bought a small box of Turkish delight for 65 Turkish lira, approximately 2 US dollars. Found out later that Tugba is a chain, as I saw the store again in Cappadocia and Ankara.

I had my exercise for the day walking back to the hotel. We had a long day ahead of us tomorrow, with a full day's tour of Ephesus.