Tuesday 18 September 2012

Emirdag to Izmir, Turkey (16-18 Sept 2012)

We took the road towards Usak to our main destination of Izmir. We are surrounded by vast expanse of cultivated land – grapes, corns and olives. We passed by trailers full of corns on their way to the processing plant, spilling a few corn on to the road, treats for the goats or cows. There were lots of grapes farms in towns like Sart, Mersindere and Gokkaya but the grapes were all drying out. 
 
On 17th Sept, we took some time to rotate the tyres on Our Sorento, swapping round the new spare tyre as well.

We reached Izmir on 18 Sept 2012 and was greeted by a vibrant, busy city. The roads were congested. We had lunch and made our way out towards Foca.
 
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Izmir city from a distance.


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Apartment buildings in Izmir.


COTTON FIELDS AT MALTEPE & GERENKOY:

As Izmir region is one of the four major cotton regions in Turkey, naturally, we were soon greeted with the white and brown of drying cotton fields. The roads here are littered with white cottons that has been blown out of the trucks transporting them to the factory. 

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Soft, fluffy cotton. 

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Cotton fields drying out and waiting to be picked.


FOCA

Foca is a traditional fishing village situated on the coastline of the Aegean Sea. The small town has a marina and an active street market, selling everything from fresh produce, plants to rugs. The town also must see quite a lot of tourist in the summer months as the marina is lined with restaurants and cafes.

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Walking the streets of Foca

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Older houses in Foca

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Dad buying a rug in Foca.


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Giant red peppers in the Foca street market.

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Could not resist taking a shot of these two cats making themselves comfortable on someone’s bike.


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