Turkey’s third largest city İzmir is actually a lot more interesting than might appear at first glance so it’s a shame that it comes in for such cursory treatment in most standard guidebooks. That might not matter so much but unfortunately there used to be few general guides to the city to make up the gap so it’s good to be able to welcome this pocket-sized book – Step by Step İzmir and Around – to the shelves. The one snag for the foreign visitor is that it is in Turkish with only brief summaries in English. However, it’s so well illustrated with pictures and maps that even those with no Turkish should be able to make use of it.
The book is divided into six easy-to-use sections:
- Stars of İzmir, listing the city’s highlights
- İzmir – Cradle of Civilisation, describing the main historic and archaeological sites
- İzmir – City of Culture and Art, listing the main art galleries and other cultural centres
- Step by Step İzmir, taking the visitor round the attractions of eight different neighbourhoods from Konak to Buca
- Surroundings and Life in İzmir, describing the parks, shopping centres, food and other general topics
- Around İzmir, covering everywhere from Bergama to Urla
Yaşar Ürük, 2009
Review written: 10 January 2012
