A Turkish Farewell meal!

Thursday being my last day in this city, I was determined to do something absolutely Turkish and enjoy everything Izmir has to offer. So, no I couldn't possibly do French food or pizza; it just had to be Turkish and having been in Turkey a month, I decided I was qualified enough to plan a Turkish Farewell meal for myself!

So, first stop Mangal for some Turkish grill. You order meat by the kilo here and we decided on some Turkish sausage, meatballs and chicken wings. Served with bread, yogurt and the traditional Turkish appetizers of tomato and aubergine; the meat we choose was perfectly grilled and couldn't have been tastier. Following tradition, we ended our meal with Chai and decided on Künefe for dessert. 

But it had to be the best so we walked across the street to Ora. Künefe is dessert made with cottage cheese, shredded wheat and sugar syrup with pistachio on the top. After I ordered, I think I may have surprised the waiter when he said Dondurma and before he think of how to translate that for me I said “yes, with ice cream”.

 

And then my favorite part… we walked down to the sea side; sat at one of the cafes right by the water and ordered Turkish Kahve!

Before headed back to the hotel, I decided to do a long walk along the sea. I remember when I landed in Izmir almost a month ago; I arrived as the sun was setting. Everything between the sky and the sea had turned an amazing reddish orange. As I was walking along that evening, I saw a crescent moon rising in the sky. I arrived with the sun set and left with the moon rising; seemed like a sign that my time here was done.