Ilica Beach, Izmir, Turkey

Ever since we discovered that we would be moving to Izmir, I've had my sights set on going to Ilica.  Today being a Turkish holiday, we set out to make that happen.

We left Karşıyaka, gathered some supplies for the day, and made our way via metro to the buses in Farhetin Altay that depart for Çeşme.  I was surprised to see that these were not the normal dolmuş buses that take you to Urla and other place.  No, these were actual tourist buses, with air conditioning, comfortable seats, and water served to you on your journey.

I was further surprised by the view and the speed of the trip.  I knew the Izmir-Çeşme road was faster, but was surprised to see that it went up through the mountains.  We got to see Izmir from above for the first time, which was a real joy.  We made it to Ilica within an hour (I was thinking it would be 30min longer) but I missed our stop and ended up in Çeşme.  But immediately after hopping off the bus we found a small dolmuş that went where we needed to go.

The boys were absolutely overjoyed to make it to the beach - probably because of our unintentional detour.  We got of at Ilica Central and walked from the seaside cafes down to the beaches.  There was a large stretch of them, and from what I could tell, most were public.  The nicest ones of course were private, but still there were ample beautiful ones to sit down at free of charge.

Our first order of business, however, was finding a bathroom for Aiden and a changing room for the rest of us.  We walked until we found one, which charged 2,5TL for us all to go in.  After that, we walked back down to a place that had little seaweed (there was a bit of it the day we went, but it was avoidable).  We laid out the blankets and the kids took off for the water. 

We stayed and played for nearly 3 hours before getting changed and starting the adventure of finding our way home.  I knew the bus had to go back to Izmir - and frequently - but I wasn't sure where.  So we handled things Turkish style and asked some travel agency at the Sheraton hotel.  I was proud of myself for understanding his directions in Turkish, and set off.

We found the bus we needed, but had an hour until our departure, so we wandered back down and found a cheap place that served kofte sandwiches.  We grabbed some ice cream to complete our day before heading back and catching our bus home.