The birthplace of Homer, maybe

The magnet left behind as a token of thanks read "Izmir." My renters had left my Parisian apartment clean, with one red rose lying on the bar table just under the window overlooking the Eiffel Tower. They had stayed for just one night, having ventured to my Montparnasse apartment from Paris's 13th Arrondissement (District) for, as I later learned, the romantic setting to ask an important question— the question. At the time, though, they were just two strangers who'd left a magnet, a red rose, and a note suggesting that we might get to know each other over dinner.

The magnet that planted the seed for this week's adventures

Two years later, here I was, landed in Izmir for the big day that the question two years ago had led us to. Mehmet and Gizem were hardly strangers anymore. And I even had a special someone with whom to share their big day.

Izmir, Mehmet and Gizem's home town, is the third largest city in Turkey. The city has ancient roots, dating back to at least 3000 BC, and the region has been inhabited much longer. Izmir's name derives from the city's former Greek name of Smyrna (from is Smyrna, meaning to Smyrna). Izmir is a highly likely birthplace of the Greek poet Homer, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, though given current Greek-Turkey relations, such a claim can rub the wrong way.

The list of former rulers of Izmir reads like a who's who of the powerful empires of history: the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Christian Crusaders, Mongols, and the Ottomans all had their hands on this city at one time or another. The Ottoman rule of Izmir began in 1415. Under the Ottomans, Izmir was a very multicultural place, home to Greeks, Jews, Levantines, Armenians, and many Western European merchants.

At the end of WWI, the Greeks began a period of Turkish occupation with the capture of Izmir, following through on a promise from the Allies of Greek territorial gains in Turkey. This lasted through 1922, in a violent period referred to as the Greco-Turkish War, or the Western Front of the Turkish War of Independence. (The ramifications of this war have had much positive effects, such as the creation of Turkey as an exemplary model of a secular, democratic Muslim country, but also have left lasting scars in Turkish relations with Armenia, Greece, and consequently the EU.) After the Greek withdrawal from Izmir, ending the Greco-Turkish War, the Great Fire of Smyrna destroyed nearly three quarters of the city of Izmir. Most non-Turkish historians believe that this fire was orchestrated by the Turks to eliminate non-Turkish influences in the city. Tens of thousands of people perished, and hundreds of thousands more were left as refugees after the city was destroyed. The new Turkish government then made many additional moves to further homogenize the population. This period is still highly contentious between the Greeks, Armenians, and Turks, and trying to sift through to where the truth likely lies through google searches can be a real headache. So thanks for reading this far, if you made it. Let's call it a day on the history lesson.

All the government initiatives and cultural homogenization did not destroy Izmir's identity as a liberal, cosmopolitan, and secular haven in Turkey. Conservative Turks still use the old Ottoman slur Gavur Izmir (Infidel Izmir). Living in what some describe as a world of historical amnesia, today's Izmir is a young, vibrant, Westernized city, with busy streets where the people dress as in any other major European metropolis. And, despite Turkey's Muslim heritage, finding a bar and some locals with whom to enjoy a beer is hardly a challenge in Izmir. Gavur Izmir, indeed!

The Izmir waterfront

Overall, my impression of this city is that it's probably a great place in Turkey to live. It's also an excellent launchpad to visiting a host of tourist sites, including Pamukkale and Ephesus. However, the city itself isn't exactly topping Turkey's list tourist hot-spots. That's not to say that Izmir isn't worth a visit. For one, the locals in Izmir could not be kinder or more welcoming at every turn, whether asking for directions or whatnot, random locals kept going out of their way to be helpful. And of course, there are at least a few sites worth checking out. The city is known for its long and peaceful waterfront, where couples, families, and small clusters of friends gather to picnic and fish at all hours of day and night. The Kemeraltı Bazaar also tops Izmir's tourist must-see lists.

The Kemeraltı Bazaar

Another one of the most famous sites in Izmir is the Clock Tower in Konak Square, a gift from the German Emperor Wilhelm II to commemorate the Sultan Abdulhamit I's 25th year of rule in 1901.

Izmir's Clock Tower by night

We stayed with a lovely host and retired Turkish military man, Nurettin, who was happy to be our host and surrogate parent while we were in town. He greeted us every evening with Turkish tea and snacks when we returned back to his neighborhood, right by the Asansör monument. (I couldn't get enough of all the words the Turks had borrowed. Despite its totally disparate linguistic roots, a lot of words in Turkish can be guessed by sounding them out if you have some basic knowledge of English and French! Asansör is a great example: it means elevator and is a direct transliteration of the French word for elevator, ascenseur.) Asansör is literally what it advertizes: a giant elevator. It was built by a wealthy Jewish patron in the early 1900s to ease travel through the steep Konak neighborhood of Izmir, and it offers a great view across the city.

Our Airbnb host Nurettin, his home with a view in the Konak neighborhood, and the nearby Asansör monument

And tonight, Nurettin will be sending us off to the big celebration that brought us to Turkey in the first place: Mehmet and Gizem's wedding!

Ancient Ephesus: the Paris of Christ's time

The ancient city of Ephesus was first founded 8000 years ago. There is evidence that the region was inhabited since the Early Bronze Age. Ephesus was a vibrant city at the heart of Greco-Roman civilization. At its peak, it was home to over 250,000 inhabitants and to the ancient world's largest temple, four times larger than Athen's Parthenon: the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. During the time of Christ, Ephesus was the capitol of Asia Minor, a wealthy, sophisticated cultural hub. One website described it as the cultural equivalent of Paris at that time. It is also a city of biblical importance: The Apostle Paul was said to have preached at the Temple of Artemis, Saint John is buried here, and the Virgin Mary is believed to have lived out her days in the outskirts of the town.

Over its history, settlements of the city of Ephesus moved several times. Under the Ottoman rule, the living city was renamed Ayasuluk. In 1914, after the War of Turkish Independence, its name was changed to Selçuk, the living descendent of the once great city of Ephesus, today a small tourist stop for visitors en route to the archeological sites. The ruins of ancient Ephesus, located several kilometers from Selçuk, date from around 300 BC, originating from a settlement begun by Lysimachos, a general of Alexander the Great.

While open to tourists, Ephesus is also an active archeological site where new discoveries are constantly made. Although over 80% of Ephesus remains to be unearthed, the ruins are already considered to be one of the ancient Western world's most complete classical metropolises.

It's just wild to walk down the stone streets of ancient Ephesus, wondering what stories those stones statues might have to tell of the generations they've seen walk through their archways. To pass through the entry to the Library of Celsus, admiring the double wall design made to protect against humidity and temperature, and pondering what knowledge those walls once contained. To sit in the theater made for 25,000 spectators and imagine it full of men draped in togas. Even to peer into the latrines and remember that the near-mythical men of antiquity were still quite human, albeit with a very different sense of privacy and personal space. As Dr. Magness, an archeologist at UNC-Chapel Hill, describes, Ephesus "is almost like a snapshot in time. You get the sense of what walking down the street of a Roman city was like without having to use your own imagination."

The Cotton Palace

Proving that we are still young, travel-hardy adventurers, we caught a 2am flight out of Copenhagen to get the most out of every vacation day we took. It was a great chance to enjoy one last dinner with my parents, who were spending their last evening in Copenhagen before returning to the States. After a close-call layover in Istanbul and plenty of napping on a sunny train ride, we safely made our way to Denizli by early afternoon. Rallying despite a night of what can, at best, be called questionable sleep, we made it to destination #1 in our Turkish adventures.

Oh, hello, Pamukkale

Pamukkale: the Cotton Palace. Looking up at its sparkling cascades, white as fallen snow, sends a shiver through your toes, but the first cautious footsteps are rewarded with a warm, watery caress. There is nothing icy about this place. Clifftop thermal springs carrying calcite-laden water have left this pearly shade over millennia. Nature's handiwork can only be admired in the steep edges and gentle ripples of the calcite, seemingly frozen in motion. Terraced blue pools hug the hillside, lined with gooey white mud that squishes delightfully between your toes as you climb.

Turkish adventures, Day 1: Pamukkale and Hieropolis

This site has long been appreciated for its natural wonder. It was the site of an ancient cult. Then, in the 2nd century BC, the Attalid kings of Pergamom built the spa town of Hierapolis atop this site. The city changed hands to the Romans in 133 AD. Its Greco-Roman and Byzantine ruins include an amphitheater, a necropolis, religious sites devoted to various Roman gods, and early Christian churches. Pamukkale and Hieropolis were first included in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1988.

Pamukkale, I hope we'll meet again.

It was a bit of a pity that the timing of our visit didn't fall a little more conveniently. Many of the smaller pools were empty by this point in the year. Spring is when the thermal springs flow most heavily, and when we'd recommend a visit. But even not at its peak, this site is definitely worth seeing, climbing, and wading through.

And what about the town of Denizli? We did face our challenges given our total lack of Turkish. Though Turkish uses Latin characters, we might have done well to pick up some basic vocabulary before the trip. However, walking the streets as a couple of Westerners was never an issue. The majority of locals dress in typical Western fashion, and the general atmosphere was very safe if hectic in a typically Turkish way. (There was also an inexplicable abundance of Arby's and KFC fast food chains.) We steered clear of those and did pretty well for ourselves with some typical Turkish fare.

The Turks know how to do dessert: calling it a day with Turkish tea and Turkish-style ice cream sandwiches— dondurma (Turkish ice cream) smushed between layers of baklava and flaky Turkish pastries, coated with hot chocolate syrup.

All in a day's travels.

The Little Red Devil

Here is the little guy we've welcomed into our home (to shred it up and play with every piece of it). Introducing Mars, aka the Little Red Devil!

Our new furbaby, Mars

A visit to the queen's place

A week filled with curry, boeuf bourgignon, barbecues, and beers zipped past. Before we knew it, my parents' last day in Aarhus had arrived. And what better way to spend it than with a visit to the beach and a local palace? We kicked things off with a visit to Bellevue Beach. Because yes, I may have made the inexplicable decision to live in Scandinavia, but it comes with proper sandy beaches, so ha!

Bellevue Beach

And then we swung by Marselisborg Palace, Queen Margrethe's summer residence. 

A tour through Marselisborg Palace grounds

As the queen wasn't in residence, we had the opportunity to spend the afternoon wandering the grounds. And, as you can see from the bottom right corner of the above collage, security at this royal residence wasn't exactly White House style. 

The grounds of the Marselisborg Palace haven't always been the territory of the royal family, but they did have some history as royal grounds in the 17th century. Then, in 1661, the seriously indebted King Frederik III of Denmark was forced to surrender this palace, among other properties, to his Dutch creditor, a certain Gabriel Marselis. Marselis's sons managed to upgrade the grounds from a manor to a barony, but the family couldn't keep their hands on the land. The last private owner was Hans Peter Ingerslev, who decided to offer his lands for sale to the city council of Aarhus, and then suddenly died two days later. (Not at all fishy...) The town council decided to build the palace, which was completed in 1902. The palace and its surrounding property was returned to royal hands as a wedding gift for Prince Christian and Princess Alexandrine, Queen Margrethe's grandparents. The palace has since been a secondary royal residence.

We were surprised by how freely we were allowed to wander around, touch the sculptures, picnic on the lawns, play in the guard stands, hike through the woods, or even take a nap in the gardens should the mood strike. It was definitely a memorable way to spend our last afternoon of a visit together.

A Viking's welcome

The Vikings turned out in droves to welcome my parents on their first full day in Denmark. There may or may not have also been an annual Viking Moot (festival) to attract them to the Moesgård beaches, but I am confident that that really was secondary.

My parents received a full viking welcome on their first full day in town.

Beware the Viking Battle! (photo courtesy of Tibor)

The Moesgård Viking Moot began in the 1970s as a place for people to take lessons in Viking crafts. It rapidly expanded, drawing crowds and picnickers. In 1977, the first Viking market was held. Today, Moesgård hosts the world's largest Viking festival, falling around Saint Olai Day (July 29), when Aarhus historically hosted a market. 

The Viking Moot crafts fair (photos courtesy of Tibor)

The Viking Moot is open to the public on Saturday and Sunday, but lasts all day and night, with Viking participants living only on Viking technologies for the weekend (including ocean bathing, which they weren't ashamed to do right in front of the day-time visitors!).

The Vikings camped on the seashore all weekend. (Photo courtesy of Tibor)

Though despite the not particularly welcome boldness of some of them, some of the Vikings were quite the charmers!

Viking babies! (Photos courtesy of Tibor and my mom)

The only word of advice for future visitors is to not show up in heels. But as a recent Paris transplant, what's a girl to do?

Hats (or Viking hoods) off to the Moesgård crowd for a perfectly Danish welcome to my mom and dad!

Bienvenue chez Nicolas et Emilienne

81 landlords contacted, 2 ½ apartment visits, and 1 offer led me to my new home on the first of the month. It took another three weeks of bumbling around a half empty apartment while scouring used furniture sites, negotiating with local delivery men and the world's worst set of movers, and waiting for packages to arrive from every corner of the globe before we were officially chez nous.

At long last, the apartment is ready and waiting for its first set of official house guests: my parents! As we wait for their train to bring them to town, I figured I'd show off with a few before and after shots.

Ta da! Our nearly finished masterpiece that we call home. 

And it's no Eiffel Tower, but the view's not half bad, to boot.

Let's pretend that summer made it to Denmark...