We decided against paying for a ride to the airport and instead opt for public transportation. Taking the tram from Sultanahmet, we transferred and arrived at the airport stop. It was a long, long walk with two security checks. Total time from leaving hotel to arriving at gate was 1.5 hours.

We flew from Istanbul to Izmir, an easy one hour flight via Turkish Airlines. We were served a “picnic” on the plane, consisting of a little cheese sandwich, cucumbers, olives and yogurt. I asked for water and was given a crazy little plastic cup with a foil lid —

What can I say? I’ve never seen anything like it.

Arrive at the Izmir airport and the airport itself seemed weirdly empty but I don’t know if that was just because of where our arrival gate was located since it appeared that a large expansion was under construction. Another long walk to the train, but it always seems long when wearing a heavy backpack. Had a little trouble figuring out how to buy the train tickets to Selcuk, but finally accomplished at a cost of 9 T.L. (appx. $4.50) for both of us. Way better than the 45 Euros our Selcuk hotel was charging for airport pick up. Although I did learn later that Atlas Airlines has a shuttle from Izmir to Selcuk, only available to passengers of their airline but I don’t know if there is a cost associated with it.

The train was crowded and we had to stand for the entire 1+ hour journey to Selcuk. Arrive in Selcuk and immediately find a place to eat before heading for hotel.

After settling in and taking a nap (we are on vacation after all!), we head out and walk around a bit before eating supper.

Small Mosque

The restaurant we stopped at had outdoor seating in a large area surrounded by small businesses.

I was highly entertained watching the three tiny alteration shops, next door to each other. All three seemed to have a lot of business. A customer would arrive and the owner would lower the shades and shut the door while the customer changed into the clothing to be altered. Presumably the clothing was pinned, the customer changed back to the clothes he arrived in, the blinds and door would be reopened and the customer would leave. If the customer was female, the owner stepped outside while the customer changed, and left the door open while pinning the clothing, then stepped back outside until the customer had changed back into her original clothes. I never saw a lone female enter one of these businesses, all female customers were always accompanied by another female. Some of the customers presumably wanted their alterations done immediately as we saw at least two drop items off and come back and get them while we were at the restaurant.

Note the closed blinds of the business on the left.

All things considered, it was a pleasant, beautiful evening to have a relaxing meal and people watch.