Marylovestotravel!

Izmir was the first stop after Adana and my, is it a beautiful city. One of my friends who’d been had told me that it was prettier than Istanbul; I did not believe him-for my love affair with Istanbul was not quite over yet. How can any place in this country be prettier than the heart of the world? Blah, I’d thought. But it was. Izmir was THAT stunning and it did stump Istanbul. It’s like a younger sibling of Istanbul, the same basic structure, but a lot more refined and quiet.
We were being shown around by our host, a high school student from Izmir and what a blessing it is to be with a native. We could do things normal people do without the added ‘tourist’ baggage. I took a ferry ride after 10 years and went around the city, visiting some very interesting baazars and high end shopping districts, teenage hangouts and yet another McDonalds. Everywhere you went the focal point was the amazing Blue Aegean sea. Although no sea in Turkey can quite beat the Mediterranean’s beauty, the grey of the water was almost magnetic, beckoning us towards it.
The next day we went to Ephesus an ancient Greek city which has been salvaged and the remains have been preserved, turning it into the world’s second largest open air museum. The architecture of that period has indeed taken me by awe. The grand amphitheatres, the libraries, the buildings, it’s all startling. It seemed I had travelled back in time, and to Greece, both at the same time.
Ephesus, was interestingly Mary's village and legend has it that towards the end of her life she wished to return from Jerusalem to this city. She returned and lived in her house which was 2 kilometres from the village, it is rumoured that this was where she passed away. It’s a small, simple brick house. Some of which is the original building and some of which has been restored. The feel of the place was so sombre and peaceful that it really moved me. There was something in the air that made one feel that this house was truly special.
All in all, Izmir was one heck of a city- I could live there for 12 weeks and not get tired of sitting by the sea, just looking at all the ships come and go. As I boarded that bus to Istanbul the ever nearing departure date seemed a whole lot realer. Although a good part of Turkey was over, my love affair with the country had only just started.