Izmir, Turkey

Today, we flew out of Athens, Greece for Izmir, Turkey. We left around 12:30 and landed around 1:00. It was a very short flight. We got to fly on Pegasus Airlines, like the horse Pegasus from Hercules!

Leaving Greece

Our Airplane

Landing in Turkey

Once we landed, we had to get our visas. In Europe, Americans are allowed without visas but not in Turkey. A 90 day visa was only $20.

The blue sticker is my visa

We then continued through the airport to meet our guide for our trip here, Omer. From the airport, we headed to lunch at an authentic restaurant in downtown Izmir. The food was AMAZING. I had ground beef pizza and chocolate cake with pudding. Yummy!

After lunch we headed into downtown Izmir to see the Velvet castle. It has been used as a fortress for years and is the best view of the city. The neighborhood surrounding the castle is very poor and dirty, but the castle ruins were still beautiful.

For our final tour of the day before heading to the hotel, we stopped at the Ancient Agora of Smyrna, yes Smyrna from the bible! It was so well preserved!

We will head to Pergamum tomorrow for a full day. Can't wait!