4th to 7th of July, 2022.
Hitchhiking in Turkey.
When I arrive in the bus terminal of Izmir I get confused. It looks so small! It cannot be! Well, and isn’t! It takes me a long time to realize that this is only the private space for the bus company which took me here. The actual Izmir bus terminal is some hundred metres away.
I manage to call my CS host, Çagri, by borrowing one of the attendants phone. He calls him and talk about where I am. But after a while, he comes to me and tell me to follow him because Çagri called him and he is waiting for me somewhere in the Izmir bus terminal. He takes my small backpack (how cute!) and we walk towards there.
It is freaking hot!
Çagri is a very charming guy! He has a twin brother which is waiting for us in the car. They don’t look that much like each other. But they are both very friendly.
Çagri’s apartment is a bit outside Izmir but it has a nice view. It is condo, in a private area with very nice apartments. They have swimming pool and a nice green area. His apartment is spacious, with big windows and a nice balcony. His son is leaving with him for the summer, and going to stay with his mother from time to time.
The first day we just chill and I cook something for dinner.
Next day, Çagri offers to drive me all the way to Izmir, so we go in a kind of city tour, mostly around the pier and the old town. Izmir is kind of nice but I don’t see what so many people see, and I don’t understand why so many of them told me I shouldn’t miss it. If I had, I wouldn’t have noticed. We go to this lovely Konak Pier, which looks nicer from the outside. It is an old customs building, from 1890, which is now a kind of mall with cinemas and stuff. At least I take a photograph with Blue. Laugh.
It is very enjoyable for sure but also it is so warm! We are melting!
We go back home and Çagri goes to pick up his son from the school.
I cook dinner for us again, this time a small version of Brazilian traditional dish prato-feito (made dish), but tonight we have a glass of wine and some delicious beer!
Next morning we go on another tour again, this time to a lovely village just outside Izmir, called Foça. It is so cute and peaceful there, even though they attract some tourists. We walk alongside the sea, passed by the old fortress, and enjoy a nice and cold beer in this super cool bar. I totally recommend a quick visit to Foça, to anyone who comes to Izmir. And if you come, stop by this very original bar called Miço Café / Bar . The owner is a lovely woman!
Back in Izmir, Çagri helps me to find a second hand book shop so I can exchange my bood per another. I get Crime and Punishment, from Dostoyevsky.
At night we have another nice meal but this time Çagri cooks bulgur. Very tasty! And we have another glass of wine.
My flight is on the 7th and Çagri offers to drive me to the airport. We will just have to arrive many hours before my flight because he has to pick up his son from school in the afternoon. No problem for me! I actually rather to be in a airport many hours before, so I can recognize the place and make sure I do whatever I need before the flight, and that I am exactly where I have to be for the boarding.
But before leaving Turkey, imagining that this is the last time I will be here, I need to finish all the Turkish money I have. I try to make the best decision of what to get. Basically some snack foods for the days I will spend at the airport, the flight, the night I will spend in Helsinki Airport, and something to eat for breakfast next morning. But I also decide that it would be a good idea to get a very good lips balm, because the last real cheap one I got, it worsened the cracks on my lips. So trying to make the best out of the change from the 200 bill Giannis gave it to me, I get some chocolate, cookies, cucumbers and tomatoes (for sandwiches), and the second best lips balm from the shop, which is a Norwegian brand, by the way.
Back at Çagri’s home, I make some sandwiches and also pack some of the bulgur left-over. Yummy!
I don’t remember exactly at what time we arrive at the airport but I have some time to kill until after 7 p.m., when my flight is due.
Bye-bye, Turkey!
10 Years Around the World 