I am not the world's best advocate for Izmir tourism. I have often pointed out on this blog and to friends that Izmir is a rather boring, quiet town with no museums of note, no beaches, and no historic sites or monuments worth visiting.
Visiting Izmir is not for every traveller coming to Turkey. Most of the typical, traditional reasons people visit a city -- good food, vibrant nightlife, history, museums -- don't apply to Izmir. Simply put: if you're interested in sun and sand, you'd be better off in Bodrum or Antalya. If you want to see historic Ottoman mosques, go to Bursa and Istanbul.
However, I have also said before -- and I stand by this -- that anyone who professes a love of Turkey should visit Izmir to get a better sense of what a modern, nationalist Turkish city looks like than you can get from just visiting Istanbul or a few cities along the Mediterranean.
Izmir is Turkey's Republican dream, the concrete manifestation of its utopian vision of a "Turkey for the Turks". You don't really see that kind of philosophy play out in Istanbul, where the city's more international, cosmopolitan inhabitants are frankly more welcoming of outsiders, whether they're from the US, Eastern Europe or Diyarbakir.
But Izmir did start out like Istanbul: like Istanbul, Izmir has always been a center of commerce. Throughout the city's several thousand year history, Izmir's port saw heavy trading with the rest of the world. Trading and commerce flourished, particularly during the latter years of the Ottoman Empire, and people from all over Europe (known as Levantines) settled in Izmir, opening businesses, hotels and restaurants. All that changed, though, in 1923.
Now, Izmir does not many attract international tourists, except those on a cross-country bus trip who are on their way to Ephesus and who stop here for a few hours in the afternoon. Many tourists who come to Izmir mistakenly believe there are beaches here and are sorely disappointed to discover that Çeşme, which Izmir's marketing material lists as a great spot for swimming, is at least 30 minutes away by car and much longer if you go by bus.
However.
In the past two weeks, we've had two sets of visitors stay with us. The first set consisted of two American women, one of whom was Jeff's former colleague from Philly, and then two CouchSurfers from Germany. In explaining to them what Izmir had to offer, I started out with what the city doesn't have: museums, sites, historic buildings, mosques, churches, beaches.
But when pressed for what there is to do here, I kept coming back to the same answer again and again: soaking up Izmir's culture and lifestyle. Izmir has a very particular vibe that is unlike any other Turkish city I have visited. Life here is relaxing. It's slow, laidback, not necessarily quiet, but definitely calm, especially in summer when people don't work too terribly hard.
Life in Izmir is sitting on the Kordon at night and watching the sun set. It's navigating Alsancak's alleys and sipping Turkish coffee at one of the few historic Greek houses that survived the devastation of 1923. It's spending several languid hours eating a lavish (but not necessarily expensive) fish and meze dinner. It's sitting for tea with your butcher in the middle of the afternoon just because.
Maybe what Izmir has to offer tourists is not a harried day tour, or a jog through a spice market or covered bazaar. So it doesn't have beaches where you can sunbathe and order a cocktail. Perhaps that's not the point. Maybe Izmir has something different to offer: a respite, a chance to slow down for a moment while travelling, a space to eat and drink well.
Because eating and drinking are two things Izmir does exceptionally well. The food in this town, especially in summer when all the gorgeous produce is in season, is phenomenal. If you're a vegetarian, you'll eat very well here. And if you love meat, there's plenty for you too, as Izmir is famous in Turkey for head meat. (There are more traditional cuts of meat available as well, of course.)
Izmirlis are also proud of the fact that there are so many bars in this city. (Never mind that they are all the same and only serve Efes.) Even though we lived for two years in Beyoğlu before moving to Izmir, I was still surprised at the sheer number of bars in Izmir, not just in the central district, but all over.
Perhaps the best reason -- and maybe the only reason -- to visit Izmir is to simply see a "real" Turkish city, to see one side of what Turkey is. There are few tourists in Izmir, there are no foreigners who own beachfront property. There's just a bunch of people going to work every day, teaching their children right and wrong, planning for their retirement, worrying about the AKP winning another election.
And maybe that's reason enough to visit Izmir. To see what Turkey looks like when you get away from its massive tourism industry, to sit with the locals on the quay and feel the breeze blowing off the Aegean, and to catch a glimpse of what modern Turkey looks like today.
Well said.
Posted by: Dion Good | Tuesday, 14 June 2011 at 04:12
Seni seviyorum Izmir!
But, you know...it wasn't always like that. Izmir used to be bustling w/Americans...especially when the DoD authorized military members to be accompanied w/there spouses/families/children & what have you. Now its a "remote" and you can only come by yourself (did it 2 years from 07-09).
After 9-11, the game pretty much changed & families couldn't come (shame too).
But yes, I agree...Izmir is definitely a "Turks" city & I miss it dearly.
Posted by: PhilB | Tuesday, 14 June 2011 at 06:31
Thanks, Dion! :)
Posted by: Barbara J. Isenberg | Tuesday, 14 June 2011 at 08:43
I do know indeed! I read a lot about Izmir's history and I continue to be amazed by first-hand accounts of what Izmir was like in the 1910s and 1920s when it was truly an international city, where French, German, Spanish, English, Dutch, Turkish were all spoken on the streets. And I've heard stories from people like you who were here in the 1990s that Izmir was much more vibrant than it is today. It seems I have clearly missed the city's heydey!
Posted by: Barbara J. Isenberg | Tuesday, 14 June 2011 at 08:45
There's a couple of musuems (ethnographic and something else, forgot the name)which I haven't made it to myself. Asansor, again, which I haven't made it to see yet, and the agora. There's the clock tower and Kizlaragasi Hani in Kemeralti. There are a few churches I've come across, there's even a Catholic one in my neighborhood of Karsiyaka. However, I don't think anyone who would come to Izmir specifically to see these things. As you said, tourists come through usually on their way to go to other places like Ephesus and the like. The city's feel is one of relaxtion, not fast-paced, electric and international like Istanbul, I can wholeheartedly agree with that. So, you're absolutely right Barbara, it's a place to see how modern Turks live in a city that is really for Turks.
Posted by: ES | Tuesday, 14 June 2011 at 09:54
There are indeed museums in Izmir; I just don't feel they are worth seeing. The ethnographical museum and the archaeological museum are both so small and so poorly run that even the 3 TL or so you pay to get in I don't feel is worth it. To be fair, though, the reason the Izmir archaeological museum doesn't have much in it is because all the good stuff is in Berlin, and what the Germans didn't take is currently in the Selcuk museum, so Izmir really got the leftovers. I don't mean to suggest that Izmir doesn't have any museums, mosques or churches -- I just mean to say that they aren't worth coming to Izmir for. Everything Izmir has, Istanbul has, only better and bigger: mosques, churches, hands, bazaars. That said, the Kemeralti market is a very cool market in that it's a very typical Turkish market: lots of pots, pans, mops, shoes and the like. Not very touristy, of course, but for tourists it can be a neat experience to see an "authentic" Turkish market. But definitely I think Izmir has something else going for it, namely its relaxed vibe and the chance to get off the grid for a while and put down your guidebook.
Posted by: Barbara J. Isenberg | Tuesday, 14 June 2011 at 10:00
Spot on assessment. We really enjoyed our weekend in Izmir. Not the prettiest of cities but Alsancak does have a certain charm and youthful buzz. I could see Liam and I living there because of it's laid-back, easy-going vibe so different from the hassle-bound tourist towns. Of course, we wouldn't live there for the gay scene but then we don't live in Bodrum for that either!
Posted by: Jack Scott | Tuesday, 14 June 2011 at 12:17
Yes, it certainly is a more easy-going place to live, though sometimes I do miss the tourists, the foreigners, the huge expat community that exists in other places like Istanbul. As for the gay scene, I don't think Izmir really has one, just a couple of pick-up joints frequented by rent boys. Yuck.
Posted by: Barbara J. Isenberg | Tuesday, 14 June 2011 at 12:25
Oh God...Alsancak. My old stomping ground.
I lived on Gul Sokak & I really loved the friendliness of all the people there. I must say, while I was a 'yabanci' there, the locals treated me like I was from there. I think its because I whole-heartedly took on the role as a "local"...lol. Even ended up marrying a local Izmir lady.
I can't wait til August when the wife & I get to take our new addition to family to meet everyone. :)
Posted by: PhilB | Wednesday, 15 June 2011 at 01:49
A lovely piece capturing the essence of where you live, and why you would visit. It's nice to visit the bigger, more cosmopolitan and more well known places, but there's nothing like getting off the beaten path and having a peek at the 'real' undercurrent of a country.
Posted by: [email protected] | Wednesday, 15 June 2011 at 09:51
Thanks very much! I like what you said about the "undercurrent of a country": that phrase seems to fit Izmir perfectly.
Posted by: Barbara J. Isenberg | Wednesday, 15 June 2011 at 11:08
Well, we're sold. It seems like everyone who leaves it behind has a nostalgia for Izmir. We've got a friend here who must leave Fethiye to become a civil servant. We asked her if she was off to Istanbul. Absolutely not. Her ambition is to live and work in Izmir. We shall make it there one day... :)
Julia
Posted by: Turkey's For Life | Friday, 17 June 2011 at 13:52
That is true, most people who do come to Izmir go away missing its relaxed vibe. Nearly all of my Turkish friends, who live in Istanbul, are jealous that I live in Izmir. They think it is the BEST place to live in Turkey, even better than Istanbul. I don't agree with them, but I can totally get why they would want to live here. For young Turkish people who want to both live in a city and have access to the sea, Izmir's their best bet, IF they can find a job here! They're mighty hard to come by!
Posted by: Barbara J. Isenberg | Saturday, 18 June 2011 at 09:51
Everyone who's mentioned Izmir to me, has also uttered "Ikea" in the same breath. I figured that there had to be more to the town than Swedish Furniture!
Posted by: Roving Jay | Wednesday, 07 September 2011 at 03:26