On the long weekend from 17th to 19th of February we volunteers had the opportunity to visit Turkey.
First we went to Cesme by ferryboat and afterwards we took the bus to Izmir.
It is an impressive city, located around a huge bay and surrounded by beautiful mountains.
We got goosebumps hearing the Muezzins voice of the mosque, who called the Muslims to the daily prayer.
One highlight was the traditional Turkish food in form of delicious Doener and Baklava.
Exciting was also the bazaar where you could find literally everything from spices over fresh fish to clothes and jewellery.
As Izmir is the second biggest city of Turkey, sometimes it was hard to find the correct way especially in the bazaar.
Luckily the Turkish people are really welcoming and helped us a lot in this respect.
It felt like an adventure to hop on the bus and explore different markets, viewing platforms, mosques or small parks.
We visited another place in the south of Izmir as well. Pamukkale is a pretty small village, in comparison to the huge city.
The life there is much more quite and you are surrounded by a beautiful nature everywhere. Chalky thermal springs caused the formation
of the surface of white limestone. At first sight we felt like in winter-period, because everything seemed to be covered with snow. It was amazing to walk
barefoot over the chalk, covered by the hot water.
As we reached the top we visited the ruins such as the huge ancient theater and enjoyed the beautiful landscape for some hours.
Later we went swimming in the hot water (around 36 degrees) of the thermal-bath. It was completely relaxing.
Sitting at the top with a view over the limestone-constructs and the village we watched the sunset to have a perfect end of the day.
It was nice, spending the long weekend together with the whole group, exploring a different country.
We all will keep this trip in our memories and hope to return someday.
