Day 131 to 135 Izmir (Turkey)

Another city passed through. This time I took a lot of time for reflection and contemplation. I have been reading the books “Power of Now” and “A new Earth” by Eckart Tolle and they really have made me think, feel and mediate a lot.

But I have also had time for some fun, on Friday I arranged a CS meeting and had about 20 people showing up for a pub-night that ended up going to a club and dancing a lot… was a lot of fun!

Saturday I spent in Ephesus, a city that was founded 6000 BC and who is probably one of the most well preserved cities from that time… was pretty cool to see!

Sunday I went on another CS trip, this time we went by bicycle to a national parks for birds or something. Was about 60 km of cycling so I could definitely feel it the day after… but also gave a lot of wonderful nature scenery and nice new friends… some pictures below. 🙂

 

A rainbow of Izmir… the first two days I was there we did have some rain coming… after that the weather was really nice 🙂 I spent a lot of time (several days) walking here 🙂

One of the guys I met had this list on his wall… (he was quite into Zen and Buddhism) I really liked the message! He also gave me some good pointers and idea’s… really got me interested in searching a bit more for this when I arrive in Asia (perhaps in India?)

A fisherman has just caught some squids… observe the black ink that they spit out when they are up on land…

 

Sunset in Izmir… the sun gave really spectacular displays every day when it went down (more pictures further down :D)

Going to the gym? Naah, in Izmir you have “playgrounds” for adults… these are actually public outdoor training machines…

 

I am trying a running one… talk about letting adults play 🙂

CS meeting in Izmir… we where 20 people attending… fun!

 

Say “cheese” 😀

 

Serious discussions… or perhaps not so serious… who knows!

 

Ephesus… a really cool city… for being established 6000 BC…

 

You might call the pillars a bit worn down… hmm… kind of shows that nothing man-made lasts for ever… not even stone…

 

More Ephesus!

More long walk-ways in Ephesus

  

Magnificent view… I sat here and watched the sunset… you can really feel all the political speeches, the gladiator fights and theatres that have been performed here over time.

 

Fish-market in Izmir

Me and two guys who where hosting me in Izmir  

Now also with the guy who arranged the bicycle tour on Sunday. He was one of the top 10 best cyclists in Turkey…

  

Flat tire… but we are prepared 🙂

 

Why not pick some cotton while cycling 🙂

The gang coming through a curve…

At the bird paradise… very relaxing for the senses!

 

More “on-the-road” pics

 

The sunset was absolutely brilliant… so many colors. Unfortunately my camera doesn’t really do it justice… but you can get a bit of a glance…

 

Me and my rented bike (it was a really good bike btw)