Well, this isn't really my trip or experience, but I thought some of my site visitors might want to learn a little bit about Turkey from a native, so I posed some photos here that Yener took when he went back home. He had been away for about 3 years or so. When he got back there he was overwhelmed by how crowded and expensive things had become. It used to be that eating out was very cheap in Izmir, but now it's a little closer to what we pay here in the U.S. Below are some photos of the food he at while he was there. I told him to load up on all of his favorites that he can't get back home, so here are some examples:

This is something called Alexander's Kebob. It's made with toasted bits of pita bread covered with yogurt, spiced meat (we use gyro meat), tomato sauce, and a bit of butter. It's spectacular!	These are small meat skewers that are very popular in Turkey. Yener tells me the meat is EXTREMELY tender! You can eat a lot of these things at a lunch or dinner.	Ugh.... This is brain salad. It's just cooked lamb/sheep's brain. I'm not saying more on it!	This is liver and onions...but made Turkish style. Yener tells me it doesn't taste like liver at all. Right...sure.... have my portion, Yener.

While wondering around Izmir, you'll notice that there are stray cats EVERYWHERE. These kitties are usually cute, but they aren't really pets, so approaching them is not advised. According to Yener, they patrol the streets in gangs. Below, I've posted a few of my favorites. The left-most picture looks like my cats in miniature!

Yener felt sorry for the little kitties being hungry and he decided to leave them so liver. As you can see, they enjoyed it.	These kitties were hiding out from the rain in that little area behind the gate. They only came out to show themselves once things had dried up a bit. Black and White type cats seem to be very common in Turkey!	Here's a kitty boldly sunning itself on the roof of a car.

One of Yener's favorite things to do is go grocery shopping. Take a look at these photos from the Izmir market. It's similar to a farmer's market in the U.S., but my understanding is that this market is open every day.

On one side of the partition you see here, you can find shops with apartments, offices, etc. above them.	On this other side you see things like roadways/walking areas, parks, the shore, etc.
In the central part of the downtown area, you can find the house of one of the government officials (in yellow). I think it's the mayor, but I'll ask Yener about it later. You'll also notice there is one lonely street vendor there...he's selling baked goods and stuff like that.	This is a tiny mosque in the downtown area. According to Yener, it's not used much anymore. It's so cute, isn't it?
This is an example of one of the many historic Ottoman style houses you can find in Izmir. Yener found one he wants to buy and renovate. *giggle*	In this picture you see a facade that is commonly placed at the ground level of many buildings in Izmir. You can see the modern building behind the facade.
When I worked for Kroger in high school, I remember my manager telling me not to run in the store. The were afraid I'd fall and get hurt. Check out this guy...he works for this store. He's wearing roller skates so he can go FASTER. How cool is that?