Izmir Essential: Kordon Waterfront Promenade, the Bazaar Quarter and Kemeralti, the Ancient Roman Agora, the Asansor Elevator, Pergamon Day Trip, and the Aegean Gateway City Character
The Izmir essential circuit covers the Kordon seafront promenade and the bay lifestyle, the Kemeralti bazaar quarter and the covered market, the Roman Agora of Smyrna in the city centre, the Asansor historic elevator tower and the Kemeralti panorama, the Pergamon day trip from Izmir, and the character of Izmir as the most European and most liberal city in Turkey.
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Kordon: The Waterfront Life of Izmir
The Kordon, the 5-kilometer seafront promenade along the Izmir Bay from the Alsancak ferry terminal to the Pasaport pier, is the social backbone of the Izmir lifestyle and the place where the city population performs the daily evening ritual of the walk, the outdoor cafe tea, and the sea view that the most characteristically Izmir form of public life provides. The Kordon outdoor restaurants serving the fresh meze and the Aegean fish at the tables beside the water, the cycle path along the bay, and the morning joggers and the evening strollers together create the most relaxed and the most authentically Turkish urban waterfront culture in Turkey.
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Kemeralti: The Bazaar Quarter and the Covered Market
Kemeralti, the historic bazaar quarter of Izmir extending from the Konak square inland through the covered Anafartalar bazaar to the Hisarbasi district, is the most extensive and the most commercially active bazaar quarter in the Aegean Turkey with the spice market, the textile shops, the goldsmith street, the second-hand book sellers, and the traditional coffee houses and the meyhane restaurants that survive in the streets behind the main bazaar. The Kemeralti district is the most authentic urban commercial environment in Izmir and the place most recommended by the Izmir residents for the cultural immersion experience.
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Roman Agora of Smyrna: The Ancient City Centre
The Roman Agora of Smyrna, the 2nd century AD market square excavated in the city centre of modern Izmir, preserves the most complete example of the Roman agora colonnaded hall in Turkey with the vaulted basement galleries, the Corinthian columns of the upper level, and the statues of Poseidon and Demeter that the earthquake of 178 AD damaged and the Emperor Marcus Aurelius funded the restoration. The Izmir archaeological museum adjacent to the agora houses the finds from the Smyrna excavations including the Archaic marble head of Athena.
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Asansor: The Historic Elevator Tower
The Asansor, the historic elevator tower built in 1907 to connect the Jewish quarter of Kemeralti to the residential streets on the Karatas hill above, is the most distinctive single architectural element in Izmir and the viewpoint that provides the most complete panorama over the Kemeralti bazaar quarter, the Izmir Bay, and the surrounding hills. The Asansor terrace restaurant and bar at the top of the elevator tower is the most panoramically positioned restaurant in Izmir and the evening destination for the drinks before the Kordon dinner.
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Pergamon Day Trip: The 90-Minute Excursion
Pergamon, the ancient Hellenistic capital 90 kilometers north of Izmir on the TCDD train to Bergama or the IZBAN suburban train to Menemen and the bus onward, is the most rewarding single day trip from the Izmir base with the acropolis theatre, the Asklepion healing sanctuary, the Red Basilica, and the Bergama museum providing the full Pergamon experience in 6 hours. The combination of the Izmir urban lifestyle with the Pergamon archaeological day trip is the most efficient use of the Izmir base for the visitor combining the modern Turkish city with the ancient heritage.
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Izmir Character: The Most European City in Turkey
Izmir, with the highest population of secular, Western-oriented Turkish citizens of any Turkish city outside Istanbul, the largest LGBT community in Turkey, the highest concentration of outdoor cafe culture and the most liberal social attitudes, is consistently described by Turkish travelers as the most livable city in Turkey and by international visitors as the Turkish city that most closely resembles the European Mediterranean urban culture. The Izmir character - the Kordon lifestyle, the Kemeralti bazaar, and the liberal social culture - is the product of the cosmopolitan history of the ancient Smyrna as the most internationally diverse single city in the Levantine world.