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.
 

Izmir city from a distance.

Onwards to marble country – Emirdag, Turkey (13-15 Sept 2012)

After the amazing landscapes of Cappadocia, the land turned almost completely flat and seems pretty uninteresting once we were out of the region. We drove through acres of corn and sunflower fields. After two days of driving through smaller villages and towns, we find ourselves in marble country, Emirdag. 
 
Turkey is located at one of the oldest marble production geography experiencing more than 4,000 years of natural stone production starting at the Marmara Island. Turkey holds more than 40% of the world’s marble reserves, making it the world’s most important natural stone manufacturer. Naturally, the marble cutting factories ran for miles and we drove through countless number of companies all the way from Iscehisar to Afyou Karahiser. We did see long trailers transporting one block of marble at a time on the roads the past few days. All those marbles were destined for the factories in Emirdag to be cut into marble tiles or made into water fountain, statues etc both for the local market and for export purposes.
 
 

Blocks of marble, as big as a van, are transported from the marble quarry one at a time on long trailers.