Conference Near Kusadasi

Well, it has been a long time, hasn't it? But better late than never, so I will now finish our tour!

We flew into Izmir and were taken by van about 70 minutes to a hotel near Kusadasi. It was a resort area with many hotels. Our was one of the tallest, and probably not one of the nicest, but I am sure arrangements were made with economy in mind. The hotel compared well with hotels we have stayed in in the Philippines.

This is a shot taken from the roof our our hotel. You can see it was on a main drag and there were many apartments opposite.

Here you can see how people in Turkey love to live on their balconies and verandas. We walked around the town on two evenings and saw families enjoying meals and good company outside. Many greeted us as we walked by. You can also see that it is not uncommon for there to be an oven/fireplace on the patio. I am not sure if this is for baking, heat or both.
Here you can see the mountains behind the town and the large mosque. We did not hear the call to prayer or see people praying while we were there, which we found unusual.

We were staying on the coast and the view was lovely. This is the Aegean Sea.

Another view from the roof-top, There are solar water heaters on most of the buildings, painted yellow, red, blue and green. Very colorful!
A view of the sea in the other direction and a better view of the water heaters.

 Our conference was 5 days long and was excellent! Ed spoke on Crisis Management the last day. I wish I had gotten a picture of the salad table! It was wonderful, loaded with fresh, vine ripened tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, olives, yogurt, mixed with various herbs, and many kinds of salads. We filled up with that two meals a day and it was really great! Breakfast was tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, white cheese hard-boiled eggs and fresh bread. Interestingly, curls of vegetable shortening (think Crisco) were offered for those wanting something like butter...