DESTINATIONS IZMIR TURKEY Tried & Tested HILTON IZMIR
sheep’s cheese) and the eight rooms are all quirkily unique. The achingly cool BeyEvi
Alaçatı is ideal for travellers happy to splash the cash, at least by Turkish standards – rooms are still great value, starting at around £94 per night. Ephesus and the House of
the Virgin Mary are both easily accessible from Alaçatı, which is surrounded by several small,
family-run vineyards that can be visited by prior arrangement. The nearby beaches, which are a five-minute drive away, have a definite Ibizan vibe. At the Alaçatı Beach Club, we found bright white day beds and super-yacht owners sipping champagne, and we happily flopped on to the sun loungers, while an army of waiters delivered a constant supply of cocktails.
This 34-floor hotel is located in Izmir’s city centre, just yards from the waterfront, and 11 miles from the airport. Although it’s popular with business travellers, it’s a great base from which to explore the city and every room – they are surprisingly large – has breathtaking views of the city, bay or surrounding mountains. I particularly loved the huge buffet breakfasts, where I could feast on olives, a variety cheeses I’d never even heard of before and 10 types of bread, plus chunks of glistening honeycomb, before nabbing a seat on the outside terrace. Diners at the Windows on the Bay restaurant on the 31st floor can enjoy
fantastic local and international cuisine while taking in the stunning views over the city. I managed to offset any damage by dragging myself to the fitness complex, which comprises a large gym and swimming pool. Book it: From £93 per night.
hilton.com
Şirince, a tiny village outside
the town of Selçuk, has a similar feel to Alaçatı. The narrow streets are lined with stalls selling local wine made with everything from blueberries to melons. I loved watching the locals dishing out cups of Turkish coffee, kept warm in sand-filled trays, or manhandling stringy slabs of mastic gum ice cream. Which brings me on to another subject: food. You’ll never go hungry in Izmir, and I didn’t eat a single morsel that didn’t blow me away. It was the squid at Şirince’s Arşipel restaurant, while it was
the homemade bread and tzatziki that wowed me at Kybele, a restaurant in the lavender-filled grounds of Les Pergamon hotel. At the Fokai restaurant in Foça, on the Aegean coastline, I lost count of the courses we ate, but I remember there were lots of olives, mountains of hummus, and anchovies which tasted so fresh that I suspect they’d been plucked from the turquoise waters metres from our table. Thinking about it, that meal summed up everything I love about Izmir: it’s a beautiful, tasty meze of Turkey’s best bits.
TOP AND LEFT: Alaçatı
RIGHT: BeyEvi Alaçatı
60
travelweekly.co.uk 26 November 2015
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76