While one of my best friends, Tim, was teaching in Istanbul, he asked me to take his class of high school students on some field trips to get to know their own city.
So, Şirinevler. You’re guessing what this is all about, huh? Well, I’d like to tell both of my readers that today is the happiest day of my life so far this week. I got 2 pieces of great news:
In the Fener neighborhood of Istanbul, up a steep hill from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, sits the Phanar Greek Orthodox College. Some call this regal red brick building the Red Castle. Others call it the Big Red School. To Greeks, it’s a symbol of a legacy they left on the city and the Ottoman Empire.
The Alsancak area of İzmir is the central commercial district with the trendiest bars and restaurants, tallest buildings, and major hotels. Other than the Kordon esplanade, which is covered in another entry, there are are a few interesting things to find in the neighborhood.
At Izmir’s opposite shore lies the suburb of Karşıyaka, which, coincidentally, means “Opposite Shore”. The Greeks called it Kordelio (Κορδελιό). It’s a nice, quiet area that has pretty much nothing interesting to deter visitors away from Izmir proper, unless you’re into historic Levantine homes. If you are, you’re in luck!
Something that’s not easily noticeable when wandering through Izmir is the number of synagogues in Kemeraltı, especially around Havra Street (Havra Sokak). Much of the Jewish community of Izmir used to live in the area until recently. There were once 40,000 Jews in the city but that number is now down to less than 2,000.
From Konak Square (Konak Meydanı) there is direct access to Izmir’s historic bazaar district of Kemeraltı. A street with the funny name, Anafartlar Street (Anafartlar Caddesi), leads directly into the heart of the area.
A great place to start a day in Izmir is at Konak Square (Konak Meydanı), the busiest square in the city. It’s surrounded by government buildings and is full of street vendors, children feeding (and chasing) pigeons, and lots and lots of pigeons.