Teachers in Turkey

Near the Beach

Baklava break!

At the bazaar

On to our next batch of summer visitors. Briel and John are no longer teachers but the title is much catcher than "principals in turkey". John and Briel arrived in Izmir after spending a week in Istanbul. This was wonderful because they already had a sense of Turkish culture and were no longer jet lagged. Once they settled into our apartment we walked around our neighborhood and showed them some local sights. The next morning we awoke and took the dolmuş (small bus) to the beach. The beach was very crowded, windy and the water was cold. We didn't last long. We headed to a nearby village and checked out their tiny crafts bazaar. It was very very hot this day. We decided we needed to sit down and rest. We ordered some homemade baklava and tea. It hit the spot. Afterwards we made our way back to Izmir. The next day we hopped into our rental car and went to Ephesus.

John and Briel at Ephesus

The pool in Sirince

     Again it was very very hot and we found ourselves moving rather quickly through the site to get out of the sun. We spent the night in Sirince (we seem to take all our visitors here). Our hotel had an off site pool we were able to use. After a hot and exhausting climb up a hill we were rewarded with one of the most beautiful pools we have ever seen. The pool was made entirely of white marble and was spring fed and cool. They view from the pool is across mountain side and beautiful gardens.

Stuffed squash blossoms in Sirince. So good!

Temple of Athena

The stadium

 The next day we were off to the ancient site of Priene. We were excited because none of us had been there before. Priene is perched high on the craggy slopes of Mt. Mykale. It is off the beaten path and we pretty much had the entire site to ourselves. Priene was an important city around 300BC when congresses and festivals were held there. The most impressive remaining building is that of the Temple of Athena. Five columns have been re-erected and all around lie the sections of other columns, like giant stone wheels. The 6500 seat theatre is also pretty impressive. It is said to be one of the best preserved examples from the hellinistic period.

Temple of Athena at Priene

fallen columns

It was so hot and none of us were really ready to head back to Izmir in any hurry. We decided to spend some time in the tiny village of Karaburun at a friends beach house. So we called the car rental company and told them we would keep the car another few days. The time spent in Karaburun was very relaxing. We enjoyed great meals, relaxing, reading and swimming. After a couple of nights we finally made our way back to Izmir.

Swimming in Karaburun

Amazing meal in Karaburun.

More baklava!

Last day in Izmir at the clock tower near the bazaar.

John and Briel had some shopping to do and we knew just were to take them. We headed to the Izmir bazaar by the way of a ferry boat. Here we spent the afternoon shopping and enjoying the sights and sounds of the always busy bazaar. We had one last great meal together as John and Briel were to leave the next day. The week had flown by for us. John and Briel were flying out of Izmir to continue their Turkey adventure in the southern area of Antalya. It was a great week for all of us. We thank them for making the trek to Turkey.

After seeing John and Briel off to the airport we had exactly 4 hours until we were to retrieve our next group of guests. We did a quick clean up and washing and headed back to the airport to greet the "girls" for our next round of visitors. Stay tuned for stories from their time in Turkey.