Izmir

September 2nd
Izmir, Turkey

After an early rehearsal for a production show I got off the ship with Ben and Cherese (a dancer) for my first and only time in Izmir. We didn’t have a ton of time to look around, nor did we have anything in particular that we wanted to find, so we just set out with a map to see what was out there. The walk started out along the waterfront, which was uneventful, and culminated with a visit to a bazaar. Now the bazaar was actually interesting, more so than the ones I’d visited in my last two Turkish ports, and probably larger and more confusing than the other ones as well. We actually got lost in this bazaar, and totally turned around, were walking in every which direction trying to get out. I did see a way out, but my friends, frustrated by the labyrinth and starting to get worried, had to undermine my pride and ask for directions…jerks. The bazaar was really neat though, selling a wide variety of items, from clothing to pets to skinned sheep heads (I have a picture). I always find it exciting to be in a place like that, something putting me entirely out of my element to the extent that I simply lose myself in the chaos of the market. Anyways, we made our way out and started heading back to the ship.
Ben and I had been looking for some local food since entering the bazaar and finally found something just as we were leaving. It took a while because we didn’t have any local currency, but seeing as it’s almost 1:1 with the dollar we were hoping there wouldn’t be a problem. We ended up buying an interesting wrap made from a kind of pita bread and filled with gyro meat (maybe?) and a nice sauce, among other things. And for $2, this “Doner” as it was called was really good. We ate them as we walked back to the ship.
We had the shows as planned back on the ship and that’s about all I have to say about Izmir. Four days left!!! Thanks for reading!